


Lash Out

by Strawberrywaltz



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: Chase Needs a Hug, F/M, Heckyl has a heart, Kendall is a good bro, Kidnapping, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Name-Calling, No graphic sex, Not Chiley, Riley has feelings and doesn't emote them well in this, Sex Pollen, Slow Romance, Slut Shaming, Sort Of, Twisted Romance, past child abuse mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-04-25 13:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14380026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strawberrywaltz/pseuds/Strawberrywaltz
Summary: “Oh calm down.” Heckyl said with a huffed sigh. “I’m not going to take your virtue.”“Some would say I have no virtue.” Chase said back carefully.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I regret nothing.

Not many people understood Chase, which was fine. He didn’t need people to understand him or his choices. Chase was comfortable in his skin. It had taken him a long time to get to the point where he could be comfortable. He was used to the eye-rolls and whispers about him being lazy or borderline unreliable. 

He could handle the naysayers. He could handle the quiet criticism. The words strangers said behind his back or even to his face. It didn’t matter that the world put him in this category or that. It didn’t matter. Chase could handle a bunch of people who didn’t matter thinking the worst of him. 

What he couldn’t handle was this. 

“What did you just say?” Chase asked and got right up into his teammates face. Riley looked surprised, like he hadn’t expected such a reaction from Chase. He probably hadn’t. Chase was a pretty easy-going guy and he tended to let all the teasing words thrown in his direction roll of his back like water off a duck. 

This was different. 

“I-I think you heard me.” Riley said and straightened up his spine. “You’d sleep with anything that gave you a second glance.” 

Riley had just called him a whore. 

Chase couldn’t just laugh that off. 

“Maybe he doth protest too much?” Ivan said with a chuckle. Apparently he thought Chase was joking. 

Chase was not feeling humorous. He felt cold. Betrayed by the people he thought were his friends. Shelby puffed out a breath into her bangs and crossed her arms over her chest. 

“Chase, calm down.” The pink ranger said sternly. 

“He has a point, Chase.” Tyler said with regret in his voice. “It’s not the way a power ranger should act. Power rangers aren’t supposed to – ”

“Be sluts.” Riley provided with a grin that told Chase he was trying to be funny, but it wasn’t funny. Not at all. 

“I am not – ” Chase’s voice rose as he tried to defend himself. 

“But you are.” Shelby sighed. “You sleep with a ton of girls and never call them back. Heck, there are a few guys that have come in asking for you at the café. You have no shame.” 

“I thought you were my friends.” Chase said as he took a step back from the group. 

“Friends, of course we’re your friends.” Tyler took a step forward and Chase took another step back. “Chase, we’re just worried about your behavior. It’s not healthy.” 

“We defeated Sledge and my ‘behavior’ was never a problem before.” Chase pointed out in a low voice. “So I’m a flirt, I don’t see what the problem is. What the hell?” 

“Chase, the stakes are higher with Heckyl.” Riley tried to explain. 

Kendall and Koda weren’t apart of this discussion. Neither was Keeper. In fact it had been rather random. They had all been at the park taking a break from work when Chase started to chat up a girl who had smiled at him. 

It wasn’t like it had been unusual. 

After he had gotten her number he turned and smiled at his friends and that’s when Riley had said it. He called Chase a man-whore. 

The jerk. 

“I don’t have to listen to this.” Chase said firmly and turned his back on his friends and started to walk away. He shouldn’t have needed to defend his actions to his friends. They had fought wars together. They should support him, trust him, but they didn’t. 

“It’s not like what we’re saying isn’t true!” Riley shouted after Chase. Chase didn’t turn back, he didn’t want them to see the tears in his eyes. 

Chase never thought he’d have to explain himself to his friends. He had believed they trusted him and accepted him for who he was. 

He was wrong. 

He had been wrong. 

“Let him go.” Tyler’s voice said as Chase left them behind. 

Good, Chase thought as he walked off the path and into the woods. He needed time alone. He needed to pull himself back together. He decided to hike up the mountain. It wasn’t exactly the safest thing to do, especially off the normal hiking paths. Chase didn’t care, he needed to blow off some steam and clear his head. 

His phone rang. 

With a sigh Chase pulled the little device out of his pocket and looked at the screen. Kendall. He ran his thumb across the screen and opened the line. 

“Chase,” Kendall said with a heavy sigh. “I heard what happened.” 

“Are you going to call me a slut too?” Chase demanded and forced himself not to end the call. Kendall didn’t deserve his anger. Out of everyone she understood why Chase flirted as much as he did. 

“They don’t know the story.” Kendall told him. “I do. I’d never call you that. Besides, we both know you don’t sleep around.” 

“Are you saying I should tell them?” Chase demanded. “No. They don’t deserve to know my pain. If they want to judge me without a second thought, fine. They’ve thought these things about me all along. I – ”

“Well, well, well.” Fury said, suddenly in the small clearing with Chase. 

“Fury.” Chase said, turned and tensed with the phone still pressed up against his ear. 

“Chase.” Kendall’s voice went up an octave. “Where are you? We’ll come help you.” 

Fury pulled out a wicked looking device and laughed. “We’ve been waiting to get one of you rangers alone.” He announced and fired before Chase could say a word. The bolt of black lightning struck Chase in the chest and with a groan Chase fell to the ground, instantly paralyzed. 

The phone was still in his hand and Chase could hear Kendall shrieking and begging him to answer her. Chase parted his lips, but found he couldn’t make a sound. Fury stepped over him and picked up the little device and pressed it to the side of his face. 

“The black ranger can’t come out to play right now.” Fury said to Kendall and then crushed the phone in his clawed hand. “He’s a little busy being captured.” Fury continued unnecessarily. 

Chase looked up at his enemy as his vision started to black out and figured this was some sort of cosmic poetry. Being taken was the icing on top of his already shitty day. 

Bring it on, Chase thought as his eyes fluttered shut.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Angsty, unhealthy thoughts. Borderline suicidal thoughts/actions. Threats of death. Mentions of abuse in the past and a violent death (briefly).

When Chase woke next it felt like he had fallen asleep in the café’s freezer. He’d been locked in there by accident once. It had sucked. 

Better him than Koda, though, or at least that’s what he told himself until he had been freed. 

“You’re awake.” Heckyl said cheerfully. 

“Unfortunately.” Chase muttered and sat up. He was in a cell. One of many that remained intact in the remains of Sledge’s crashed ship. Heckyl stood on the other side of the iron bars. Chase’s energem sparkled despite being held captive in Heckyl’s hand. 

“I have my prize.” Heckyl said with a cool glance in Chase’s direction. “I should probably end your pathetic existence now.” 

“So do it.” Chase said as he sat with his back against the cold wall behind him. He looked at Heckyl with dead eyes. He wasn’t afraid. He knew on some level that he should be, but his emotions were everywhere. In order to avoid showing weakness Chase settled on indifference. He clung to it like it was his life line. 

It threw Heckyl. 

“You wish for me to destroy you?” Heckyl said with mild curiosity. 

“Why not?” Chase said with an easy grin that was entirely fake. “It’s what you want, isn’t it? To be rid of me? Maybe you’ll even be able to bond with the black energem once I’m gone.” 

“This is a very strange turn of events.” Heckyl pointed out with a small smirk. “I expected some begging or at least a fight. Some angry words, a few insults at least – this was not what I expected at all.” 

“No fight here.” Chase shrugged a shoulder loosely and leaned his head back. “You do you, Heckyl.” 

“I shall.” Heckyl said with a shrug and raised his hand up. It started to glow blue and Chase watched with some disinterest. He felt detached. Numb. He knew he should be afraid and that he should fight, but he was tired. 

Briefly he thought about his sister, the one person in his life that might feel sad that he was gone. Sure, his step mother might be a little sad, but she wasn’t really his mother. His mother...well, she was gone. 

Kendall would be broken and Koda, Chase knew it was unfair to his friends, but his headspace wasn’t in a good place. He was tired of fighting. 

Heckyl’s eyes watched Chase as his blue ball of energy grew and tipped his head. “You really aren’t afraid to die, are you?” He said curiously. “Fascinating.” 

“Not really.” Chase sighed. “Get on with it, Heckyl.” 

“No.” Heckyl said suddenly and closed his hand, snuffing out his magic. Chase felt a wave of disappointment. It must have shown on his face because Heckyl’s eyes narrowed curiously. “What has you so suicidal?” 

“Don’t blame me for your lack of ability to finish the job.” Chase said with a bite of anger. He thought Heckyl would make it quick, but apparently Chase would need to annoy him into it first. “I didn’t realize you had a heart.”

Heckyl snorted. “Don’t begin to presume you know anything about me or my heart.” He said and grasped the black energem a little tighter in his palm. “There may be use for you yet. As long as your life force is bonded with the stone we can experiment on it without the risk of harming myself or my crew. I suspect it won’t be pleasant.” 

“Bring it.” Chase said boldly with a flash of teeth. 

“I shall.” Heckyl promised. “Until the next time I feel like amusing myself with your presence.” Heckyl said as he walked down the metal pathway and out into another corridor. 

Chase watched the man go with a ping of disappointment. 

In all honesty Chase knew he was being a coward. He wanted to take the easy road out and it was pathetic. 

He didn’t really want to die. Not really. He was lost in a sea of angry thoughts that were trying to drown him from the inside. 

His heart hurt. Chase felt betrayed. His friends thought – well, like Kendall said they didn’t know. They didn’t understand why he acted the way he did. 

Maybe he should have told them about his past. Maybe he still could, if he got out of the mess he had landed himself in. 

Even if he did try to explain there were no guarantee that they would understand. Chase’s struggle was his own problem. They couldn’t help him and if they chose to judge him for how he chose to fix his heart, well, they weren’t really his friends after all. 

__

“What happened?” Tyler demanded as they rushed to the location Kendall had sent them. 

“He was on the phone with me and then Fury was there.” Kendall explained hurriedly. “All I know is that Chase stopped answering and Fury spoke into his phone before the line went dead.” 

“If he hadn’t run off he wouldn’t have gotten himself into trouble.” Riley muttered under his breath. “He’s always off doing things his own way.” 

“Just because he does things differently doesn’t mean he’s doing things wrong.” Kendall defended Chase viciously. 

The rangers shared a look of surprise. “Kendall,” 

“Its Ms. Morgan.” Kendall corrected harshly. The only two people who could get away with calling her by her first name were Koda and Chase. “Shut up and find him. You don’t understand him, that’s fine, but you have no right to judge him.” 

That shut them up. With another round of surprise and guilty looks the group came into a clearing. 

“There’s some electrical marks on this rock.” Shelby pointed out as they searched the area. 

“Here is sir Chase’s talking device.” Ivan said and picked up the tattered remains of the cell phone. “It has seen better days.” He added wistfully. 

“Chase is gone.” Koda said sadly. “Chase taken.” 

“We knew that was a possibility.” Riley tried to comfort the blue ranger kindly. “It’s our fault. My fault. I was just, well, jealous.” 

The others looked at Riley with a bit of surprise. “I mean, he gets all this attention from girls.” Riley tried to play it off. His deep seeded feelings for Chase were fairly well hidden. At least he was pretty sure they were hidden. Chase seemed oblivious enough. 

He had let his feelings boil until he lost control of his tongue. Chase hadn’t deserved it. Hell, they couldn’t be sure that Chase slept with any of the people he dated. They had just assumed. Riley had just assumed. 

“Sure.” Shelby rolled her eyes and looked at Tyler who shook his head. 

“Regardless of jealously, we can only apologize to Chase if we save him.” Tyler told the group. 

“When we save him.” Riley corrected firmly. 

“Right.” Ivan and Koda agreed together. 

__

Chase was doing a series of pushups when Heckyl returned several hours later. Or at least it felt like several hours later. It was hard to tell since Fury had destroyed his phone and Chase had never liked wearing a watch. 

“You’re working up quite the sweat.” Heckyl commented as he watched Chase’s arms flex as they pumped his body up and down in quick succession. 

“Back for more fun and games?” Chase said between heaved breaths. He didn’t stop. Heckyl’s ship was cold and exercising helped chase away the chill that had been seeping into his bones. 

“Well, you are my most interesting guest.” Heckyl smirked. 

“I’m flattered.” Chase shot back as he rolled onto his back and started doing sit ups.

There was a flash of light and suddenly Chase’s black shirt was gone. Chase blinked and stopped the motion to look down at his naked chest before he looked over at Heckyl with a raised eyebrow. 

“I was admiring the view.” Heckyl said with a smirk. 

Chase’s other eyebrow rose with the first and he rolled to his knees and eyed Heckyl with a new worry in his mind. 

“Oh calm down.” Heckyl said with a huffed sigh. “I’m not going to take your virtue.” 

“Some would say I have no virtue.” Chase said back carefully. 

Heckyl tipped his head, his face unreadable in the dim light of the cellblock. 

“So, are you going to tell me what you’ve decided to do with me?” Chase said after a stretch of uncomfortable silence. The warmth he had managed to gather when he had been exercising was quickly escaping him. The sweat seemed to freeze first and the shivers started moments later. Without his shirt Chase would have little hope of fending off the chill. 

“I’m still playing with my options.” Heckyl said with a smirk. 

“And enjoying the view.” Chase added unhappily. 

“Don’t be so sulky.” Heckyl smirked and tipped his head, like he was debating on taking the rest of Chase’s clothes. Or maybe that was Chase thinking the worst again. 

“Please, tell me how I should act.” Chase said with biting sarcasm. “Should I be scared? No, I’m a power ranger, you’d expect me to be brave.” Chase stood and brushed off the dust on his jeans as he walked closer to Heckyl and the bars that kept them apart. “Do you want me to fight? Beg?”

“I will say I didn’t expect this indifference.” Heckyl commented, but didn’t back away from Chase as he neared. 

Chase looked from Heckyl’s cool blue eyes to the gem hanging around his throat. Chase’s energem. 

“Do you miss it?” Heckyl asked curiously. “Do you feel any different being separated from it for these last few hours?” 

Chase didn’t feel any different. Not really. “I think you underestimate the power of the bond.” Chase said with a wink. “It’s not going to give up its power to you when it has me still.” 

“Are you going to ask me to end your life again?” Heckyl asked curiously. 

“That would be begging.” Chase smirked. “I think we’ve already established that I’m not going to do that.” 

“Oh, there’s that indifference again.” Heckyl smiled. “I’ve been working out the best way to use you.” He admitted. “I could use you against your friends. Threaten your life and get them to hand over their energems.” 

Chase laughed at that. It was a hollow sound. Heckyl frowned. “They aren’t going to sacrifice the safety of the world just to get my pathetic ass back.” 

“Pathetic?” Heckyl echoed the word smugly. 

“Well, I did manage to get captured by Fury.” Chase shrugged. “Maybe I deserve this.” 

“An interesting thought.” Heckyl commented dryly as his eyes trailed down Chase’s well sculpted chest again. “I think you and I would have gotten along, in another life.” 

“I doubt it.” Chase said and turned his back on Heckyl and resumed his sit ups. 

Heckyl watched for a moment, judging on the silence and eventually walked away. Chase waited until Heckyl was gone before he stopped exercising and moved back into his corner and placed his back firmly into the cold surface. 

Another shiver ran through his body and he broke down and thought about his friends. 

Maybe if he got out of this alive he would tell them about his sordid past. About the man who had brutally killed his father in front of him and took him away from his mother and baby sister. About how he was kept in a basement for a year and every aspect of his life was controlled by a stranger who threatened to kill him on a daily basis. Even after he had gotten free the man still screwed with Chase’s mind. Invaded his dreams and whispered in his ears that he’d never be normal. He’d never be good enough. 

Kendall never asked for Chase to tell her about his past. Chase had offered only because he felt like she needed to know that he was no hero. He was a coward. Broken. He wasn’t fit to be a power ranger. 

Kendall had understood that Chase struggled to feel loved. She told him that the energem wouldn’t have chosen him if he wasn’t strong. Kendall had told him that he was stronger than he realized and asked him to let his inner strength shine.

Kendall had been better than any therapist Chase had ever talked to. 

No, even if his friends learned about Chase’s not-so-happy past they wouldn’t understand him. They wouldn’t understand that he didn’t sleep around. The few times he had sex after his captivity it had been unsatisfying and left Chase feeling disconnected and numb. The people he let use him wanted nothing more than his body. 

Chase was beginning to believe that he was too broken. Damaged goods. No one would be stupid enough to want to get involved in Chase’s issues. 

Maybe he was okay with it. Chase was too afraid to get serious with people because when he went on his admittedly countless dates, all he could think about was how screwed up he was and how the person he was talking with didn’t deserve to deal with all his baggage. 

So he had started a cycle. He would flirt and ask people out and when they said yes and the date went, well, however the dates went, he would chicken out and never call them back. 

That didn’t make him a slut. Maybe it made him a bad person. An avoider. A coward. Chase was a lot of things he wished he could change, but change was hard and he was only human. 

He was trying. 

He tried. 

Chase thought his friends understood that, but he guessed that assumption wasn’t fair. 

It was Chase’s own fault. Kendall had been right. He shouldn’t have assumed that they would understand him when they didn’t know him. They knew the fun-loving side of Chase, they didn’t know that it had taken a lot of time for Chase to shake the anxiety his year of captivity had caused or the depression that he fell in when he realized he would never be able to erase those terrifying memories away completely. 

His friends had never expected him to be perfect, but they had expected him to be better. More stable. More like them.

All the insecurities that Chase had felt when he was younger rushed back into his heart like a tsunami. The damage was extensive. 

Maybe this time he was too far gone to save.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: This is a potentially triggery chapter with dub-con sex (not graphic) 
> 
> Take care of yourselves.

“We still don’t have any leads.” Riley said as he stared at the computer screen in front of him. He had been working all night with Kendall and Shelby trying to come up with a computer program that could track Chase down. 

It was impossible. 

“Wherever they are the cloak is too powerful.” Kendall shook her head. “There is nothing we can do. We can’t pick up his signal.” 

Shelby sighed and buried her face in her hands as she started crying again. It was an on and off thing ever since Chase had gone missing. 

“Shelby.” Tyler breathed and wrapped her into his arms protectively. “We’re going to find him.” 

“Sir Chase is strong.” Ivan offered his own words of encouragement. 

“This is all my fault.” Riley shook his head. “What I said was careless.” 

“No,” Kendall said with a glare. “What you said was heartless.” 

Riley blinked back at Kendall in surprise. Her rebuke wasn’t exactly uncalled for, just a bit shocking. Kendall had always been particularly protective over Chase and Koda. Chase had been with her since the beginning. Riley looked down in shame. 

“Turning on each other isn’t going to help Chase.” Tyler pointed out, ever the leader. 

“I’ll apologize profusely once we get him back,” Riley promised Ms. Morgan. 

“We all will.” Shelby added. 

“I did nothing wrong.” Koda pointed out as he crossed his arms over his chest. Riley smiled lightly in the caveman’s direction and nodded. Yes, Koda and Kendall were in the clear, but the rest of them had some serious ass-kissing to do in their future. 

If they got Chase back. 

No, when they got him back. 

Kendall looked back at her computer when it beeped and stood up quickly. “Monster activity in the city.” 

“Maybe Chase free?” Koda said hopefully. 

“Or at least we might get a monolog and an update on how he is.” Tyler nodded. “Let’s go.” 

Riley’s heart was in his throat as he hurried after the team. He wished he had kept his stupid mouth shut. His crush on Chase had bloomed over time. He was naturally drawn to Chase’s go-lucky attitude and fresh optimism. Chase was everything Riley wasn’t. While Riley ran on logic Chase ran on pure freedom. 

Riley was jealous and in his jealousy he had lashed out in a very cruel way. 

He just hoped he would get a chance to say how sorry he was. 

__

Chase probably shouldn’t have been surprised that his current situation was bringing up the nightmare of his past. He couldn’t sleep. Well, he could, but whenever he drifted off he’d jerk awake a few seconds later from flashes of images he thought he had forgotten. 

The man who had taken him when he was eight and killed his father was nameless. The police officers had shot him in order to prevent him from killing Chase. There had been no identification. No records. The guy had been a ghost. 

In many ways he still was a ghost. He still haunted Chase just out of sight. He whispered in his ear and mocked Chase over his stupid life choices. Somehow the ghost managed to control Chase even from beyond the grave.

One of Chase’s childhood therapists had suggested Chase give his personal ghost a name. Something to call him that felt comfortable. His kidnapper had insisted Chase call him ‘father’ during his captivity. He apparently had wanted to replace the father he had taken from Chase. 

The guy was psycho though, so it was hard to say what his plan really had been. Or if there had been a plan at all. 

Chase closed his eyes and tried to push away the thoughts but failed. He, in all his ten-year-old glory, hand named his ghost Dick. The therapist hadn’t been as amused as Chase had been, but that was fine. The lady had very little sense of humor. 

Most of the nightmares being stirred up were about being trapped in the basement. Alone and broken. Memories of his father, his real father’s death, were only flashes of images that didn’t quite make sense. Chase had blocked most of those out, but they were popping back up. Like weeds that refused to die. Even awake Chase was plagued by glimpses of the horrific event his brain tried to hide from him. 

His father’s eyes, wide with fear. 

The smell of the blood.

The sound of the gun – 

“Shut up.” Chase whispered to his brain and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes to rub away the images in his mind. 

This wasn’t the same thing. Heckyl wasn’t trying to be his father or control his life to the point of nearly breaking his sprit. 

Hell, Chase was fairly certain that Heckyl didn’t know what he was doing. 

Maybe that was more dangerous than anything else.

__

Heckyl was not a happy alien. “Get it caged!” He shouted to Fury as they tried to pin the monster down without being subjected to its venom. The last thing they needed was to be dosed with a pleasure drug. 

Snide had released it out of anger and left Heckyl to clean up his stupid, moronic mess. 

Heckyl’s other half was not pleased that Heckyl had kept the black ranger alive. He also was pissed that Heckyl had managed to ‘hold on’ to the black energem when Snide took over, making the relic useless to Snide. 

In many ways, Snide was a child throwing a tantrum. 

“Hold it right there!” The red ranger said as the group ran around the corner. 

“Oh, perfect.” Heckyl rolled his eyes, but frowned as a thought struck him. Slowly a grin spread across his face. “How about we let you all deal with this mess.” He said and nodded to Fury. 

A blast from the green ranger’s gun distracted Heckyl just long enough for one of the sharp needles to make contact with Heckyl’s thigh. “Damn,” Heckyl cursed and glared at the offending ranger. He hoped the monster-gone-wild would strike them all into a frenzy and leave them shattered in the wake of their love-making. 

Heckyl waved his hand and returned to his ship with a groan. The chemicals were already flooding his system. 

“What the hell happened to you?” The black ranger asked as he moved closer to the bars that separated them. 

Heckyl wasn’t certain why he had chosen this particular spot to teleport to. No, that was a lie. He knew exactly why. The black ranger stood shivering as he eyed Heckyl’s injury. 

“No,” Heckyl whispered and flung himself away from the vulnerable black ranger. Heckyl had destroyed galaxies and planets and killed thousands of people as Snide, but he, Heckyl, would not do this. 

Not even if the chemicals drove him mad. 

“What happened?” Chase asked, this time his eyes held more concern than anyone had shown Heckyl in decades. 

“One of Sledge’s most foul creatures escaped.” Heckyl bit out and eyed the door. If he left the cellblock he would encounter some other pathetic monster and – Heckyl didn’t want to think about what he would do. He couldn’t stay and he couldn’t go. 

“And what is the venom going to do to you?” The black ranger asked carefully. 

“It causes a hormone imbalance.” Heckyl panted a little and reached down and pulled out the metal-like spike. “It drives its victims into a sex frenzy.” It fell to the ground with a metallic ping and Heckyl watched his hand start to tremble with mild curiosity. 

He looked up as the black ranger started to unbutton his pants. 

“What are you doing?” Heckyl asked harshly. 

Chase looked up and raised an eyebrow. “It’s why you came to me, isn’t it?” He asked nonchalantly. “Don’t worry, this isn’t my first rodeo.”

Heckyl snarled although his lower body twitched with a thrill of excitement. “I will not take you in such a dishonorable way.” He said, but couldn’t force himself to leave or look away from the beautiful man in the cell before him. 

“So, what?” Chase asked curiously. “You’re just going to wait this out? Or are you going to let one of your minions take advantage of you in your weak state?” 

“I may not be a pillar of upstanding morals,” Heckyl hissed, “but I won’t do this.” 

“You aren’t doing anything.” Chase pointed out. “I’m offering.” 

“I must go.” Heckyl said, but again couldn’t bring himself to move. 

Chase shook his head and gripped the bars in front of him. “You obviously need help.” 

“Who are you to help me?” Heckyl demanded. 

“A guy who knows what its like to not feel anything.” Chase said bluntly and pulled down his pants. “Maybe we’re not so different from one another.” 

Heckyl couldn’t refuse any longer. His brain turned to mush as the chemicals took over. He blurred through the bars and shoved Chase’s naked body back into the wall with a fierce growl and smashed their lips together. 

For a moment Heckyl’s mind cleared again and he pulled back, regret shinning in his eyes as he stared back into his beautiful prisoner’s eyes. “You did this to yourself.” He said before he lost control. With a snap of his fingers his own clothes were gone and he lost himself in the chemical’s flowing through his bloodstream. 

__

Chase wasn’t sure why he suggested it. He wasn’t sure why he cared. He guessed he kind of figured it would happen regardless if he ‘allowed’ it or not. At least if he offered himself up willingly he had a say. 

Heckyl ravished him. 

The pleasure was a surprise. Chase had expected it to hurt. The two guys Chase had sex with before seemed to think that pain was all part of the game. The man who had taken him captive as a child had never touched him sexually. He had told Chase that he was too dirty and unworthy to be loved. 

Chase expected Heckyl to be cruel, but Chase was left more satisfied than he ever had been.

He felt something. Something good. 

By the time the chemical had run its course Heckyl collapsed in exhaustion over Chase’s sweat soaked, naked chest. Chase breathed in the scent of Heckyl’s neck. He smelled like cinnamon. 

What the hell had he done?

Chase knew he should regret it, but he didn’t. He felt more alive with Heckyl than any other person he had forced himself to sleep with. 

How wrong was that? 

What had he done?

A groan signaled Chase that Heckyl had returned to the land of the living. Vaguely he wondered if he could survive another session of vigorous and mind blowing sex. 

Heckyl pulled back and looked at Chase. The pleasure vanished when Chase saw the shame fill Heckyl’s blue orbs. 

Heckyl vanished moments later. No words spoken. 

Chase suddenly felt used, but he figured he had no right to feel that way. He had offered his body. He obviously wasn’t going to ‘cuddle’ with Heckyl after Heckyl – uh, had taken him. Multiple times. 

With a groan Chase covered his face and shivered. Heckyl had been nice and warm, but now that he was gone the cell felt even colder than before. 

“You are a moron.” Chase told himself with a sigh.


	4. Chapter 4

Chase cleaned himself up the best he could without a shower and slipped back into his boxers and jeans. The chill had settled under his skin. Chase wasn’t sure if it would ever reverse or if he’d ever feel warm again. 

He missed the warmth of – no, he wasn’t going to pine over Heckyl. Or Heckyl’s body heat. Heckyl was the enemy and Heckyl had…he had been in trouble and Chase had helped him. 

Although spectacularly confused, Chase knew that Heckyl wasn’t the guy for him. 

There was no one in the universe twisted enough to fall for Chase and even if there were, Chase would likely screw it up. 

No, there would be no ‘happily ever after’ for Chase. It wasn’t in the cards. 

That hope had been taken from him a long time ago. 

__

“Are they going to be okay?” Riley asked Kendall worriedly. 

“Once the chemical’s leave their systems.” Kendall shrugged. Shelby and Tyler had both been hit with the venom. She had analyzed their blood and told them their fate. They had been nervous, but that vanished when the need had overwhelmed them. 

They had locked themselves in a closet in the empty museum upstairs and, well, Riley was pretty sure their side stepping dance of a relationship had finally come to an end. 

Sex pollen trended to do that. 

“Heckyl got hit with one of those spikes.” Riley said conversationally. 

“It might react differently to alien DNA.” Kendall said calmly. 

Riley looked at Ivan and Koda and heaved a sigh. He wasn’t sure if they were thinking what he was thinking, but he was worried about Chase. Chase was on the enemy’s ship. Chase was vulnerable. What if Heckyl had done something unthinkable? 

“They didn’t mention Chase at all.” Riley breathed. “We don’t even know if he’s dead or alive.” 

“I’m aware.” Kendall huffed. “I’m very painfully aware. I’ve known Chase longer than any of you.” 

“I’m just worried.” Riley sighed. 

“You feel guilty.” Kendall looked at him directly. “I get it. I’m sorry. We’re all on edge.” 

Riley nodded. 

__

Chase was dreaming again. He was pleading his ‘ghost’ to stop hurting him. He’d be better, quieter. More useful. 

With a gasp Chase woke and sat up and sealed away his fear. He didn’t need to show his enemy that he was weak minded. 

Chase looked up when he heard footsteps approach his cell. He expected it to be another Vivix with a tray of ‘food’ for him. Food that Chase had been ignoring, despite the pain in his stomach from the need for food. 

He hadn’t seen Heckyl in days. Or at least it felt like days. 

Time sucked. 

Chase looked up and blinked owlishly when he realized Heckyl was standing outside the cell bars. 

“I’ve come to apologize for my unforgivable grievance against you.” Heckyl said without actually looking at Chase. 

Chase raised an eyebrow, but he wasn’t sure what to say. 

The words came anyway. Chase had always been good at words. 

“I offered.” Chase said very carefully. “You didn’t do anything unforgivable.” 

Heckyl did look up then, eyes glaring. 

Chase softened his eyes. “Look, you were in a spot of trouble, I helped.” 

“Thank you.” Heckyl said after a stretch of silence. “You helped me even though I am your enemy.” 

“Well, you haven’t killed me yet.” Chase pointed out. “I thought I’d return the favor.” 

“You didn’t have to.” Heckyl said stubbornly and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“You also didn’t have to wait for me to offer myself to you.” Chase pointed out. “You weren’t even going to try and take me. You were going to go out there and let your crew have their way with you and you know that they would have rather let you die.” 

“They wouldn’t let me die.” Heckyl defended himself. “They are too afraid of me.” 

“Maybe.” Chase nodded. “Either way, you came to me and then you were going to leave me unscathed. You didn’t want to hurt me, Heckyl and you didn’t. In fact, it was, well.” Chase made a motion with his hand and Heckyl raised an eyebrow. “Good.” 

“Good.” Heckyl exhaled. 

“The best sex I’ve had.” Chase said blandly. “Don’t let it go to your head.” 

Heckyl smirked smugly and straightened a little. Clearly the alien was letting it go to his head, but Chase decided to let it go. He didn’t have enough energy to fight. 

“You look cold.” Heckyl said. 

“Observant.” Chase shivered. 

“I’m sorry I took your shirt.” Heckyl said and snapped his fingers. Two folded blankets appeared next to Chase as well as a white shirt, one that Chase remembered Heckyl wearing when he worked at the café. 

Chase regretted not wearing his black skate shoes. His shirt and hat were the only articles of black clothing he had on when he was taken. His hat, well, Chase had no idea what had happened to it. 

It felt wrong to not wear his color. It was even worse than being separated from his energem for so long. 

“Is something wrong?” Heckyl asked curiously. 

Although something had shifted in the relationship between captor and prisoner, Chase didn’t want to push his luck. He didn’t need to tell Heckyl that he was feeling weaker and weaker since his shirt had been taken. 

It probably wasn’t a good thing. 

Neither was being captured by the enemy and having sex with them. 

“No.” Chase lied expertly. “Nothing’s wrong.” 

Heckyl suddenly looked defensive and stomped out of the holding area. Chase watched him leave and felt the loneliness sink back in. 

If Heckyl didn’t kill him soon Chase was pretty sure that he was going to die of boredom.

Or starve to death. 

Which ever came first. 

__

It had been a week. 

The team was quiet. Everyone was on high alert and stressed. Who knew what was happening to Chase. Riley couldn’t guess what gruesome horrors his friend was facing, all because of some careless words. 

Kendall was still edgy. Koda had forgiven them, but it was obvious Koda was afraid for Chase. 

They all were afraid. 

Another monster appeared and they defeated it without a word or hint of how Chase was doing. 

Riley refused to give up hope. 

__

Chase breathed in slowly through the wave of nausea that hit him out of the blue. It had been hitting him like that every few minutes. 

“What’s wrong with you?” Heckyl asked. Chase had missed his approach and winced. He didn’t want to look weak in front of Heckyl. 

Chase opened his mouth to spout off a witty retort and ended up coughing instead. 

“Is this a human illness?” Heckyl questioned with disgust evident in his voice. Like he was afraid he might catch something from his gross prisoner. Chase supposed that human sickness would be repulsive to an alien who probably never got sick. 

The gifted jerk.

“I don’t know.” Chase said and shivered. “Might be a cold.” 

“A cold?” Heckyl frowned. “I gave you blankets.” He pointed out. 

“Not – it’s a kind of sickness.” Chase tried to explain. “It’ll pass.” He pressed his forehead into the cold ground and shivered again. 

Chase blinked and suddenly Heckyl was beside him on his knee. Chase looked up at him without moving from his pathetic position, half curled on the ground. 

“Can I help?” Heckyl asked quietly. His startling blue eyes were filled with concern and worry. Chase wasn’t sure how to respond to that. 

Chase closed his eyes and wondered if he should mention that he shouldn’t be sick. The energem bond should protect him from the common cold. “I need something black to wear.” He said and shivered again. “I think it will help.” 

Heckyl pulled back and gripped the energem hanging around his neck protectively. “I won’t give it back to you.” He said with a harshness that Chase hadn’t expected. 

Maybe he should have expected it. 

“Never mind.” Chase breathed. “Just leave me alone.” 

Chase didn’t want to be alone, but he also didn’t want to be so pathetic in front of Heckyl. 

Heckyl glared and vanished form the cell. Chase closed his eyes and fought back tears of frustration. He cursed himself inwardly for going off alone in the woods. If he had only gone back to the lab instead he could have vented to Kendall and his would have happened. 

“Here.” 

Chase opened his eyes and looked up to find Heckyl holding out Chase’s black shirt. The one he had been wearing when he had been taken. 

“I – I thought you destroyed it.” Chase said and took the shirt with a shaking hand. 

Heckyl rolled his eyes but didn’t respond to Chase as Chase pushed himself up and tugged the shirt on over the white one he already was wearing. It was hard to describe the feeling. He assumed it was like a junkie getting a fix after suffering through the early stages of withdrawal. 

“Your complexion looks better.” Heckyl frowned and looked down at the energem accusingly. “You need to wear your color.” He realized. 

“Apparently.” Chase said and slowly lowered himself back down to the ground. “Never knew why. It just felt right to do it.” He still felt wrung out and weak, but he also felt a little better than he had moments before. “Thank you.” 

“I didn’t realize.” Heckyl frowned. “I mean, I thought you were all just being ironic.” 

“You thought, what? That it was funny?” Chase snorted. “You thought that we wore our energem’s color because it was cool?” 

“Yes.” Heckyl nodded. “It must help the bond.” He observed. “When you aren’t in touch with the gem.” 

“Something like that.” Chase would have shrugged his shoulder, if he were up to it. 

“I was not aware.” Heckyl said defensively. 

“I’m not blaming you.” Chase pointed out tiredly and closed his eyes. When he opened them Heckyl was gone. 

__

“Heckyl!” Riley snarled as they fought the sea of Vivix around them. This was the first battle Heckyl had joined since the sex pollen incident. 

“Green ranger.” Heckyl said as he used his blue lightning to push Riley’s attack away. 

“Where is our friend?” Koda demanded as he tried to tackle Heckyl, who avoided him with far more grace than Riley expected. 

“What friend is that?” Heckyl asked smugly as he avoided another attack from Tyler. 

“You know who we’re talking about!” Shelby screamed and blasted the Vivix she was fighting into dust. 

“Ah, that friend.” Heckyl nodded his head slowly. “I don’t recall. He did leave me a nice present though.” He held up Chase’s energem triumphantly. 

“Bastard!” Ivan shouted and sent a blast of electricity at Heckyl, which Heckyl absorbed with his hands and cackled madly. 

“I’m sure wherever he ended up, he is wondering why you haven’t saved him yet.” Heckyl mocked cruelly. The rangers all startled at the accusation. “I guess you didn’t care about him after all.” 

His final words spoken, Heckyl vanished. 

__

“You look better.” Heckyl commented as he returned to visit his prisoner. Heckyl felt a little better after his ‘fight’ with the other rangers. More balanced. He was happy to see that his prisoner did look healthier. Chase was standing, which was a good sign. 

“I feel better.” Chase nodded with a small, almost shy smile. Heckyl liked it when his prisoner smiled. Probably more than he should. Fury was furious. He didn’t understand why they were keeping the ranger alive. Heckyl said he had a plan. 

He just wasn’t sure what that plan was. 

All Heckyl knew was that he didn’t want to destroy the black ranger and he also didn’t want to let him go. 

It was a twisted affair. 

“Your friends are worried about you.” Heckyl said conversationally. He knew he should be twisting the truth. He should tell the black ranger that his friends had forgotten him and try to turn his allegiance. 

Heckyl couldn’t bring himself to do that though. He’d rather caress his prisoner’s skin and kiss his luscious lips. 

He doubted he’d get that chance again. 

Still it was satisfying just to be close to Chase, even if he couldn’t touch him in the way he craved. 

Chase’s eyes widened at the news and he looked stricken. 

Heckyl guessed why. “They are all fine, I didn’t hurt them. Much.” 

For a moment Chase just stood with his eyes closed. When he opened his eyes he took a step closer to Heckyl and touched the metal bars that separated them. 

“Do you wish to return to them?” Heckyl asked in morbid curiosity. 

“I don’t know.” Chase whispered, shocking them both. 

Heckyl tipped his head in surprise and watched as Chase pulled himself closer and leaned against he bars that separated them. 

“Do you still want me to end your life?” Heckyl asked with narrowed eyes. Whatever depression the ranger had been in when he had been taken seemed to have been temporary, but Chase wasn’t always an easy read. 

“No.” Chase smiled a little brighter. It lit up his dark eyes.

Heckyl took a moment to gather his thoughts. 

“Do you want to stay here?” Heckyl asked in utter shock. 

Chase looked down for a moment before he looked up again. “Not really, but,” it was impossible to explain. “When I leave we’ll go back to being enemies.” 

“We’re not enemies now?” Heckyl asked fearfully. 

A small smile lit across Chase’s lips. “Maybe not so much.” Chase offered and reached out to take Heckyl’s hand gently in his. 

“You’re a fool.” Heckyl whispered, but allowed the other man to touch him. He wanted more. He wanted to take Chase again, but he resisted. 

“I’ve been called worse things.” Chase’s smile turned sad. 

Heckyl wanted to kiss the sad smile away. He also wanted to murder the person who had said ‘worse’ things to Chase. 

It was all fairly confusing. 

“Snide wants to kill you.” Heckyl said and reluctantly pulled his hand away from Chase. “He only hasn’t because he doesn’t know where I’ve placed you.” 

“Fury hasn’t told him?” Chase raised an eyebrow. 

“Fury thinks I have a plan to use you to get the other energems.” Heckyl shrugged a shoulder. “Also, Fury doesn’t know where you are either. Only the Vivix that brings you food knows anything and Vivix, as you know, can’t talk.” 

Chase nodded slowly. 

“So, what does that mean?” Chase asked. He sounded slightly worried. 

Heckyl figured Chase should be more than a little worried. “I can’t let you go.” Heckyl tried to explain. “But the longer you remain here the more likely it will be that one of the monsters on this ship will find you and kill you. It’s a big ship, but it will only take so long before luck runs out.” 

“Fun times.” Chase breathed. 

“You still aren’t afraid to die.” Heckyl said lowly, afraid of what answer might come from the man’s mouth. 

“No.” Chase answered firmly. “But I don’t want to leave you either.” 

“I’m not a good guy, Chase.” Heckyl said with a sigh. “Maybe I was, before Snide, but I’m not that guy anymore. I do what I have to in order to survive.” 

“I know.” Chase nodded. “I understand that. Do you want to be part of Snide?” 

Heckyl dropped his jaw and stared at Chase. “Of course I don’t. You have no idea what its like to have a stranger inside of your body that can take over any time you aren’t strong enough to fight him off. We’re locked in a constant war, a battle for control. It’s exhausting.” 

“I do know what its like to have someone try and control me.” Chase said sharply. “What if we could find a way to free you from his control? What then?” 

Heckyl snorted and pulled away from Chase, out of his grasp and far enough away that there would be no more touching. He needed to think clearly and he couldn’t do that when Chase touched him. “You want to free me? And then what? Run off together?” 

“Why not?” Chase asked. “I – I think we deserve to give this some sort of chance. You – you haven’t killed me and, uh, the sex was obviously great.” Chase took in a deep breath and shook his head. “Heckyl, there has to be something here. In my heart, I can feel it. Don’t you?” 

“Obviously.” Heckyl rolled his eyes. 

“Why not give this a chance?” Chase pleaded. 

“I could give you a long list of reasons why this ‘relationship’ would be a terrible idea.” Heckyl said firmly. “First of all, your friends want to destroy me. Second, my other half wants to destroy you. Besides, it would be impossible to separate me from Snide.” 

“You don’t know that.” Chase insisted. “Maybe Kendall can help you. She’s as smart as they come.” 

“I don’t need to stand here and listen to false hope.” Heckyl shouted suddenly. “I will never be free and neither will you!” 

In a flash Heckyl vanished. He needed to escape before he allowed the moronic human to sway his heart. 

Hope was too dangerous to entertain.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Torture

Chase stared at the empty space long after Heckyl had vanished. A Vivix showed up a few hours later and dropped off Chase’s daily tray of food. With a deep sigh Chase moved to sit by the tray and examined the contents for anything vaguely edible. 

Whoever Heckyl’s cook was seriously needed to rethink his or her career choice. The grey mash was chunky and juicy in a way that was not pleasant to look at or smell. There were orange sticks that looked like they might have been carrots at one point, but they broke apart into dust as soon as Chase touched them. The last option was a green Jell-O like substance that was a visual experience Chase wished he could get a refund on. 

Over all? The tray was a bust. 

With a huff Chase pushed the tray and its gross contents away and settled on pacing his cell. Whenever he could he tried to exercise. It was easier now that he had his black shirt back. He still felt tired, but not as shaky or sick.

He missed the feeling of the sun on his skin and the wind in his hair. Everything about his cell was cold and unfeeling. It had been strangely fitting at first. Poetic even, but now that Chase was coming out of his self designed depression he missed being and feeling alive. 

He wanted to feel alive with Heckyl, but Heckyl was stubborn. 

What Heckyl had said was true, though, Chase knew he was living on borrowed time. He knew that one day Snide or Fury or any other monster would walk through the door and find him, torture him, or kill him. Potentially all three.

In the beginning that didn’t seem all that terrible. 

Things were different. Things were turning around and Heckyl, Chase was pretty sure he was falling for the man. Alien. Whatever. 

It wasn’t just about the sex. It was about how Heckyl had opted to take care of Chase even though he didn’t have to. Hell, Heckyl could have laughed and watched as Chase faded away, but he hadn’t. He had helped. 

There was more to the alien than Chase could see. There was a loneliness that Chase understood. Heckyl was lost in a way that Chase could relate to. He wanted to help Heckyl. Save him. 

Chase wasn’t just imagining things. This wasn’t some form of Stockholm syndrome. 

He just needed to prove it to Heckyl. 

__

Two days passed and Chase didn’t see or hear from Heckyl. He still got his daily trays of sometimes-edible food. He still battled the voice of the ghost of his past. The nightmares were awful, but Chase made it through. The loneliness started to creep back in. Chase pushed his exercise regiment harder and harder until he was too exhausted to move. 

Finally the door opened and Chase heard boots approaching his cell. He stood with excitement that died at the sight of Snide and Fury. 

“Finally,” Snide said with a cruel laugh. “I was beginning to think my other half had simply disposed of you.” 

“It probably would have been easier.” Chase muttered as he watched Fury unlock the cell door and it creaked open. 

“Hold still, ranger.” Fury said as he reached out and grabbed Chase’s arm in a bruising grip. “We only want to play.” 

“Somehow I don’t feel like I’m going to have any fun.” Chase commented as he was pulled from the cell and handcuffed with metal rings that bit viciously into his skin. 

__

“We shouldn’t give up on him!” Riley insisted. 

“We’re not.” Shelby said with an exasperated sigh. “You aren’t the only one who wants to get him back, Riley.” 

“I know that, but,” 

“But nothing.” Tyler interrupted. “We know how you feel. We know how we all feel, Riley. We want to save Chase just as much as you do, but we can’t. For now, until things change, we need to start searching for the other energems again. When we have a new lead or learn something new we’ll do whatever we can to save Chase.” 

“I know.” Riley closed his eyes. “I know you’re right, but I just want to go back in time and tell him I’m an idiot.” 

“We all want to.” Shelby nodded. “I want my chance to apologize to him too.” 

“I did nothing wrong.” Koda reminded them all smugly. 

“We know.” Tyler laughed lightly. “We know.” He said again, a little more subdued. “Let’s do what we can for now. We’re going to get him back, Riley.” 

“Are we?” Riley asked himself. 

__

Torture. 

Chase kind of expected it all along, but the idea was easier than the actual act of torture. 

It hurt. 

They didn’t ask questions. They just wanted to hurt Chase. 

Fury jabbed the electric cattle prong thing deep into Chase’s side and Chase let out another silent scream as the voltage coursed through his system. 

It hurt. It hurt. 

It wouldn’t stop hurting. 

“Stop.” Chase coughed when Fury pulled the cattle prong away. “S-top.” 

“Why?” Fury asked. “You have been nothing but a pain in our side since this whole thing started. You and your friends. You should pay for the lives you took!” 

Fury jabbed the cattle prong in Chase’s side again and he yelped before the electric shock seized up his muscles, making it difficult to make any noise or do anything other than shake from the waves of pain shooting through him. 

The prong was removed form his side and Chase dropped his chin to his chest as he panted and fought to breathe through the pain. 

He hung from the ceiling. A chain with a hook held the cuffs around his wrists in place above him. Most of his weight was hanging on the chain since his legs were too rubbery to support him. The metal bands around his wrists cut into his flesh and blood dripped in thin rivers down his arms. 

Chase barely felt it. 

“Perhaps he is getting bored of your technique.” Snide commented and stepped forward with a knife in his hand. “Perhaps it’s time for me to play.” 

“Oh, goody.” Chase huffed a laugh that sounded more like a sob. 

He wished he were stronger. 

The knife made quick work of the tattered remains of Chase’s black shirt. He looked at the shreds of material on the ground and realized his situation was about to get far worse. 

Snide dipped the knife in some sort of mixture before he used it to cut into Chase’s skin. “He thinks he’s clever.” Snide said. “Heckyl.” He spat the name out and emphasized his dislike with a deep, painful cut into Chase’s skin. Whatever was on the blade burned life fire or acid. 

Hell, Chase thought and closed his eyes against the pain and whimpered, it might be acid. 

“He’s smarter than you.” Chase bit out angrily and followed up the insult with a scream as Snide drove the knife into the flesh of Chase’s right thigh. 

“Watch that tongue of yours, ranger,” Fury warned. “Or we’ll decide to remove it.” 

Chase whimpered a little as Snide left the knife buried in his leg and pulled out a fresh one. 

“Heckyl thought he could hide you from us.” Snide continued and dipped the new knife into a new mixture. “He thought he could protect you. He might not see inside my mind when I am in control, but I can feel him. I can feel that he’s grown soft. You made him weak.” 

Chase screamed again as the knife sliced along the skin of his back from his shoulder to his hip in a diagonal line of spreading, burning pain. 

“He doesn’t understand,” Snide said and glided the knife across the other side, making an X shape across Chase’s back. “He thinks he is in control, but he’s not. Soon he’ll learn that I get to decide his fate. I get to take away from him anything I desire.” 

With a sob Chase realized what Snide planned to take away from Heckyl. He knew that the plan was to torture him to death. 

It sucked. 

Chase screamed. 

__

When Heckyl came back to himself he took a moment to take in the scene before him. Chase hung by his bloodied wrists from the ceiling of Wrench’s workshop. Fury stood off to the side and looked alarmed. 

“Sir,” Fury said in a way that screamed of apology and excuse. 

Heckyl curled his hand and used his power to cut off the large cat’s air supply. Fury dropped the metal stick he had been holding and tried to stop the force constricting around his airway. 

“Release him.” Heckyl said in a way that left no room to argue. He let Fury go and eyed Chase, careful not to let any ‘weak’ emotions show. He focused on his anger. Anger was safe. 

Chase was a bloody mess. His naked chest was covered in burn marks and long, angry looking gashes that leaked blood across pale skin. His eyes were closed, his face untouched by the horrors that the center of his body had endured. 

Small favors, Heckyl thought as Fury lowered the chain and Chase’s limp body to the ground. 

“Sir,” Fury said, but a sharp glance in his direction silenced the large cat. “I will do your bidding.” Fury said wisely. 

“Yes.” Heckyl agreed. “You will.” 

“What would you have me do?” Fury asked, his eyes still focused on the ground out of fear more than reverence. 

“Ready the transport beam.” Heckyl said. “If you question me I promise you more pain than you have caused him.” 

Fury seemed to realize he was in no position to say anything about his master’s affections for the human and vanished to fulfill the request. 

Once alone Heckyl let the anger break into pure horror and fear. He knelt down next to Chase and freed him from the metal bands that had destroyed the flesh around his wrists. There was a knife in Chase’s leg that Heckyl was afraid to remove. He didn’t want to cause any more damage than his counterpart had already managed. 

Heckyl’s worst fears were coming true. 

“I should have never kept you.” Heckyl whispered as he allowed his fingers to touch Chase’s unmarked face. He checked for breath and found that his lover was still breathing. If Heckyl could get him back to his friends in time, perhaps there would still be hope for the human’s life. “Forgive me for my selfishness.” Heckyl breathed and gathered the bloody body up in his arms. 

Heckyl cradled Chase close as he walked proudly through the halls of his ship. He encountered a few curious monsters who were smart enough to keep their distorted mouths shut. 

“It’s ready.” Fury said when Heckyl entered the transport room. “Where would you like to go?” 

“The museum café.” Heckyl announced coldly and Fury typed in the commands without a word. 

“Ready.” Fury said and pushed the button when he got the nod. 

__

Shelby’s scream had the boys running to her rescue in the café. 

Riley stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Chase’s limp, broken body in Heckyl’s arms. 

“What did you do to him?” Tyler demanded and Heckyl cradled Chase a little closer. 

“Not a thing.” Heckyl said simply and moved forward towards Koda who looked shocked as Heckyl pushed Chase’s body into the caveman’s arms. He looked down at Chase with a look that Riley couldn’t quite figure out. It wasn’t sadness, obviously, Heckyl wasn’t capable of such a human feeling. 

Regardless of what Riley thought, their enemy slipped Chase’s energem off from his own neck and gently placed it in Chase’s limp hand and rested them both on Chase’s bloodied chest. He turned and glared at them each before he spoke again. “Fix him or I’ll destroy you all.” He threatened before he vanished out of sight. 

“Chase.” Shelby bolted to Koda’s side and looked him over with Riley standing at her shoulder. “We need to get him to a hospital.” 

“Is that a knife in his leg?” Tyler asked woozily and swayed dangerously enough that Ivan caught him. 

For all their battles and all of their troubles they had never seen anything as gory and horrifying as what they were looking at now. 

“Kendall.” Koda told Shelby who nodded and pulled out her phone. 

“I’m calling an ambulance!” She shouted and vanished from sight. 

“Over here.” Riley motioned Koda and cleared a table to set Chase down on. “Is he breathing?” 

“Yes.” Koda said. “I feel breath on neck.” He was reluctant to let Chase go, but did so in order for his friend to be comfortable. “He in bad shape.” 

“He looks thinner.” Riley said as he tried to assess how bad off Chase was. There was blood staining almost every inch of visible skin on his chest and back. There were numerous cuts, mostly shallow, but long and angry looking red that leaked blood. The knife in Chase’s thigh seemed to be the most dangerous wound on his body, but the burn marks had Riley worried. 

“The ambulance is on its way.” Shelby announced as she and Kendall rushed back into the café. 

Kendall looked pale as she stopped and stared at the horrifying sight of Chase. It was gruesome. Riley couldn’t look away. 

“What do we do?” Ivan asked with fierce determination. 

“We,” Kendall started and stopped. She turned away just as she lost everything she had eaten on the floor of the café. She heaved into the puddle of vomit until she seemed to pull herself back under her careful control. She straightened her shirt, her glasses and turned back to face them. “We save him.” Kendall announced firmly and moved closer to give orders.


	6. Chapter 6

The waiting room was a calm hell. 

No one talked as they took their turns as they alternated from pacing and occupying the semi-comfortable chairs that lined the bland, colorless walls. 

Koda’s shirt was stained with Chase’s blood. Spotted in rust colored brown, not quite red, not like fresh blood. Tyler and Riley had tried to wash the blood off their skin, but the anti-bacteria soap in the dispensers in the bathroom didn’t quite get the job done. 

Or maybe Riley’s hands were clean and he couldn’t wash the rust colored stains from his memory. 

“We got him back.” He whispered. The others looked at him with various expressions of surprise and acceptance. 

“Yes.” Tyler agreed. “We did. We’ll fix the damaged we caused after the doctors fix the rest.” 

Several hours later a pair of doctors and a police officer appeared and the group stood to hear what they had to say. 

“Mr. Randall has been through quite the trauma.” The doctor said wearily. “The knife wound in his thigh was the most life threatening. We managed to get the bleeding under control, but whatever substance the knife was dipped in has caused quite the infection. We’re working on battling it now. The other more superficial knife wounds were dipped in a similar substance and each are infected, this isn’t good news.” 

Riley’s heart fell a little and he choked before he could muster up the strength and asked, “Is he going to be okay?” 

“If he response to the antibiotic cocktail we have him on,” The doctor nodded. “He’ll still have a long journey of healing in front of him, but as long as he survives the next twenty-four hours, I think he’ll rebound and win the fight for his life.” 

“I need to ask you a few questions about your friend.” The police officer stepped forward. 

“He was,” Riley started, but couldn’t logically explain why they hadn’t contacted the police about a missing person. He knew why they hadn’t, but the officers would likely not believe them if they insisted that the power rangers had been on the job and dropped the ball big time. 

“Chase didn’t come to work,” Kendall said shakily. “It’s not that abnormal for him to take time off on a whim. I didn’t think anything of it until we found him in the café we work at.” 

It was a lie, but lies were necessary when the truth wouldn’t make sense. 

“We have no idea what happened to him.” Kendall breathed and then broke down into Koda’s shoulder. 

“We’ll need to exam the place you found him.” The police officer nodded and wrote everything down. “I’ll send a unit over to the museum. I don’t suppose you have access to any camera’s in your café?” 

Kendall closed her eyes and shook her head. “We have them up for show, but I disabled them last month because we just haven’t been getting enough money to pay for the expense. I’ll go with you and let you into the museum, it’s closed now.” 

The police officer nodded and gently led Kendall away from the group. 

Riley knew it wasn’t fair that Kendall had to deal with such a responsibility alone, but he also knew that she was the only one that could currently pull such a con off. Well, with the exception of Chase, but Chase and all his cleverness was fighting for his life. 

“We will keep you all updated on your friends condition.” The doctor promised. 

“Thank you.” Shelby managed a watery smile before she broke down into tears. Tyler wrapped his arms around her gently and offered the only comfort he could. 

After another few hours had passed Kendall returned and with a silent nod told the other rangers that they were in the clear. She sat down with Koda and they whispered quietly to one another for a while before they fell silent. 

A doctor returned and said that Chase was responding to the antibiotics, but was still fighting a high fever. He also suggested they all go home and get some rest before they came back to the hospital. 

Reluctantly the group got up and left the hospital. They all wanted to go back to the museum, but it was a crime scene. 

“What did you tell the cops?” Shelby asked Kendall curiously. 

“Nothing really.” She shrugged. “Just that it wasn’t unusual for Chase not to show up for work and that we didn’t think anything of it. I’m a horrible person.” 

“Chase will understand.” Tyler promised. “We’ll explain everything to him.”

“And apologize.” Riley added firmly. He would have his apology and then maybe they could salvage their friendship. Although after everything Chase had been through it was feeling more and more impossible to gain forgiveness. 

___

When Chase woke he felt warmer than he had in weeks.

“I was wondering what the color of your eyes were.” A feminine voice said from the blurry mist that filled the room he was in. Chase blinked a few times and the mist started to clear. Not mist, just terrible dry eyes. 

Chase looked up at the lady and tried a smile. 

“You’re at Amber Beach Medical,” the nurse said as she offered Chase a straw that was stuck in a plastic cup of water. He sucked the precious liquid greedily. It helped clear away the sand that lined his throat. 

“Heckyl?” He asked with a croak. 

The nurse frowned. “I’m not sure…”

“My friend.” Chase tried to explain, but the vibrations of his voice felt painful in his sore throat. 

“Your friends were here all day yesterday,” the nurse said helpfully. “I can go see if Heckyl is here now, if you’d like.” 

In the haze of his mind Chase didn’t realize how unlikely it would be that his friends would allow Heckyl to wait with them. Instead of thinking clearly about it, Chase nodded and allowed himself to be pulled back down into the embrace of sleep. 

__

A nurse appeared in the waiting room door and approached the group. She had been giving them updates whenever there was something new to be told. 

“He woke up for a little while.” The nurse said with a smile. “He was asking for his friend.” 

Riley’s ears perked up curiously, wondering who Chase had been asking for. The name she said surprised everyone in the group. 

“Heckyl?” Riley spat the name out like it was a bad taste in his mouth. “He asked for Heckyl?” 

The nurse looked uncertain, but nodded. “Yes, that is the name he said.” 

Kendall stood up and shot a look at Riley that said, ‘shut up’ before she approached the nurse. “Heckyl isn’t really a friend anymore. They used to work together at the café, but Heckyl was let go when we found he was stealing money from the cash register. I fired him several months ago.” 

The nurse soaked in the knowledge and nodded. “Oh, well, sometimes the drugs can confuse the mind.” She nodded. “Since you are his emergency contact you may come with me to see him, if you like.” 

Kendall nodded and left with the nurse without a glance back at the others. 

Riley felt cold. “He wanted Heckyl?” 

“The fiend was quite gentle with sir Chase,” Ivan pointed out. “He said he did not injure him.” 

Tyler nodded. “He gave back Chase’s energem.” He added. “That seems, strange doesn’t it?” 

“Heckyl had no reason to do either of those things.” Shelby agreed with a nod. 

“Heckyl, not bad?” Koda asked with his face screwed up in confusion. 

“No, he did this.” Riley insisted. “He took Chase and he hurt Chase and now Chase is confused. Maybe they did something to Chase, confused him. Maybe they brainwashed him.” 

“Or maybe Chase managed to get under Heckyl’s skin.” Shelby offered, ever the romantic. “Maybe – ”

“What?” Riley rolled his eyes. “Chase flirted his way into Heckyl’s bed?” 

“Riley!” Shelby hissed. 

“No,” Riley nodded and then shook his head. “No, I know that was a dick thing to say. I’m sorry.” 

“Just please, don’t say to Chase.” Koda frowned. “Chase been through enough.” 

“I know.” Riley agreed. “I’m sorry, but doesn’t it feel wrong to you?” 

“Chase has a way of seeing things differently.” Tyler pointed out. “He thinks differently than us. Operates on a different frequency. Maybe he saw something in Heckyl worth saving.” 

“So who nearly tortured him to death?” Riley asked breathlessly. 

“Snide?” Koda supplied uncertainly. 

“Or another monster that didn’t agree with Heckyl keeping him alive?” Shelby added. “We don’t know the details.” 

“Until we do,” Tyler sighed. “We need to trust Chase. He’s our friend and like it or not, we played apart, well, except Koda and Kendall, in him getting taken in the first place.” 

__

The next time Chase managed to get his eyes open Kendall was with him. 

“Are you okay?” He asked her when he was awake enough to see her eyes were puffy and red. 

Kendall stifled a sob and nodded. “You are the one who is hurt.” She pointed out with a watery smile. “I was so worried, we all were.” 

“You couldn’t have stopped it.” Chase told her calmly. “Heckyl?” 

“He brought you to us.” Kendall swallowed thickly. “He gave us back your energem.” 

“He – he isn’t the bad guy we thought he is.” Chase tried to explain. “I mean, he’s done some things, but it was to survive. He protected me, Kendall. It was Snide, Snide did this.” 

Kendall was quiet for a moment before she nodded. “Maybe we can find a way to separate them.” 

“Kendall,” Chase grinned. “I could kiss you.” 

“But you won’t.” Kendall grinned. “Because you aren’t leaving the hospital until I get the all clear from the doctors.” 

“Ugh, good feeling gone.” Chase pouted. “But you’ll work on freeing him?” 

“Yes.” Kendall nodded. “We’ll figure something out.” 

“Thank you.” Chase breathed. 

“Chase,” Kendall sighed. “Even if we manage to separate them, Heckyl isn’t a good guy, he might be playing you. This might be some sort of long con.” 

“He could have killed me,” Chase pleaded. “He could have let me die, Kendall, I know it sounds crazy, but I feel connected to him. I think I, I like him. Like, a lot more than I should and it’s scary, but all I know is he’s as twisted around as I was.” 

“You weren’t,” Kendall started, but stopped. “Your situation was different, Chase.” 

“I know.” Chase agreed. “But Snide is controlling him, just like that man controlled me. It’s different, but it’s also the same. We had no choice. He is just trying to survive. I know what that feels like. When I was stuck there, when I was in that house I had no idea if Dick was going to snap one day and kill me like he killed my father. I was terrified all the time. Heckyl is scared, Kendall, he just is way better at hiding it than I was when I was a kid.” 

“Maybe.” Kendall nodded slowly. “Maybe.” 

“You’ll see.” Chase promised and looked over her shoulder. “There’s an angry looking police officer outside the window.” 

“Oh, yeah.” Kendall winced. “I told him that you didn’t show up for work and that wasn’t unusual. We had to come up with a reason why you vanished and we didn’t report it.” 

“Smart.” Chase nodded grimly. “I’ll keep it simple.” He promised. 

“I’ll go let him in.” Kendall sighed. “I’m sorry you have to do this.” 

“No worries.” Chase nodded. “The sooner we can get through all this, the sooner we can help Heckyl.” He breathed. 

Kendall watched him for a moment before she opened the door and smiled at the police officer. “He said he’s ready to tell you what happened.” 

The officer nodded and took Kendall’s place by Chase’s bedside. 

“Can you tell me what happened to you, son?” The police officer said more kindly than Chase had been expecting. 

“I was in the woods,” Chase admitted. “I was angry about something, I can’t even remember what now. I just needed to blow off some steam, you know? I thought a hike would help.” Chase shook his head a little and sighed. He remembered vaguely that he was pissed at Riley for calling him a slut, but it all seemed so distant now. So far in the past. It still hurt, but Chase was more worried about Heckyl than anything else. 

“Then what happened?” The police officer pressed gently. 

Chase looked back at the man and sighed. “I was jumped by this guy wearing a cat costume. Some sort of ninja tiger. He never took it off.” 

The police officer’s eyes widened, but he nodded for Chase to continue. 

“The next thing I know I was waking up in a cell. I don’t know where.” Chase admitted. “There were other people there dressed in strange alien costumes. They didn’t hurt me at first. Something changed, though, this big metal guy snapped and, well.” Chase shivered as he remembered the torture session. “It hurt.” 

“I’ll bet.” The officer said smoothly. “You don’t have to go into specifics about how they hurt you, we had the doctors document everything.” 

“Thank you.” Chase said with relief. He didn’t want to relive it again so soon. “They must have not wanted to kill me, or something, the next thing I knew I was waking up here.” 

“Thank you for your time.” The police officer said. “I hate to say it, but I think you were kidnapped by those monsters the power rangers have been fighting. You’re lucky to be alive.” 

Chase looked surprised, although it was only an act, and he nodded in acknowledgement. “We’ll look into it, regardless. They haven’t ever done anything like this before. I’m a little surprised the power rangers didn’t save you.” 

Chase nodded again, hiding the hurt he felt from the police officers words. “Thank you,” Chase repeated lamely, unable to think of anything else to say. 

The power rangers hadn’t saved him. His friends…but Chase couldn’t really blame them. It was an impossible situation. 

Chase knew, on some level, that he probably shouldn’t have made it out alive.

“Heal up.” The officer said with an offered smile before he left the room. 

Chase settled back against the pillows and stared up at the ceiling of his hospital room. He felt a little sick to his stomach, flashes of memories he wanted desperately to forget were cycling through his head. Like a movie with missing frames. 

He closed his eyes and tried desperately to focus on the one thing he could hold onto. 

Heckyl. 

__

Heckyl was pissed. His furious anger couldn’t be vented on the one person he wished to destroy, though. Snide was lucky in that sense. Fury had saved himself by helping Heckyl return Chase to his teammates. Hopefully the stupid rangers would be able to save Chase. 

Only time would tell. 

Heckyl wished he could know for sure that Chase would be okay. 

He also knew he was foolish for getting so attached to his enemy. Chase would get better and go back to fighting against him. Whatever they had shared together was over. There would be no hope in recapturing that moment of bliss. 

Heckyl couldn’t just take Chase back once he was healed. His ranger friends would likely be too protective of him for that to work. Heckyl also knew that Snide would always be lurking in the shadows, ready to come out and steal away Heckyl’s happiness. 

No, Heckyl wasn’t going to put Chase at risk. Not real risk anyway. He would have to show Chase that they couldn’t be anything. He would have to scare Chase away. 

Life was filled with hardships.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Conversations of dubious consent/rape.
> 
> Also, this is a stupid long chapter...sorry!

Chase was happy to leave the hospital, even if he was stuck in a wheelchair due to some lame hospital policy. He was even happier to wait on the curb outside the hospital for Tyler to pull his jeep around. The sun on his face felt almost as glorious as – well, Chase didn’t really want to think about that. He ached for Heckyl’s touch, even though he had only experienced it a few times. 

Man, he was so screwed. 

“We haven’t had a chance to talk.” Riley said, breaking the moment. 

With a sigh Chase looked over his shoulder at Riley. Riley hadn’t been able to look Chase in the eye all morning. It was the first time they’d seen each other since the incident. Well, the first time Chase had seen Riley. 

“Do you want to talk?” Chase asked uncertainly. He wasn’t sure he wanted to talk, but he figured for the sake of the team they needed to get over this. It still stung. The words Riley had said. What he had called Chase. At first it had been all Chase could think about in the cell, but now it was different. Now all Chase could think about was saving Heckyl.

Riley hadn’t been as lucky. He hadn’t found something else to hold onto. The entire time Chase had been taken Riley had been holding onto the guilt. It had hurt him. Tortured his mind in the same intensity that Snide had used to torture Chase’s body. 

The majority of the team was holding onto guilt and Chase knew it wasn’t healthy. If they were going to make it through this they needed to do so without guilt eating away at their harmony. The team needed to be able to work together. They were stronger together.

Chase was responsible. He had to be the one who set them free. 

“Yes.” Riley said slowly and finally looked Chase in the eyes. “I was out of line that day. I said things that were, well, horrible, to say the least. I have no right to judge you for your choices, Chase and then all this happened.” He waved a hand at Chase’s battered body. 

“Yes,” Chase said carefully, “What you said hurt. Yes, you were wrong to say it, but no, this wasn’t your fault.” 

“But,” 

“No,” Chase interrupted Riley and smiled as brightly as he was able to. “I got myself in this mess. I made the choice to go off alone and I wasn’t paying attention. Fury got the drop on me. This was my fault, not yours.” 

“But I caused you to be distracted.” Riley pointed out. 

“We all did.” Tyler added as jumped out of the jeep he had just pulled up in. “We all feel terrible. Well, except Koda and Kendall. They didn’t do anything wrong. Although I still feel like they feel bad because you got taken, but it wasn’t really their fault.” 

Chase smirked a little at that. “You guys are good friends. So you said some careless things, I’m not going to hold it against you. I’m not perfect. You guys aren’t perfect. We’re fine. I forgive you.” 

Riley looked down at his feet, ashamed. Tyler looked Chase in the eyes and nodded. Well, at least Tyler had accepted Chase’s forgiveness. Chase could work on Riley. He just needed to get passed Riley’s stupid ass brain. 

“Let’s blow this popsicle joint.” Chase announced and allowed his friends to help him hobble into the jeep and watched as they stashed the wheelchair in the back. The doctors were cautious about letting Chase walk on his injured leg or strain his body too much. Eventually he’d be able to switch to crutches, but for the moment the wheelchair was the best option. 

“Tyler and I both have apartments on the first floor.” Riley said conversationally as Tyler pulled away from the hospital. “I know you’re on the third floor of yours.” 

Chase’s heart sank. “Shit, rent was due while I was gone.” He shook his head. “I’m not even sure I have an apartment anymore.” 

“I think Kendall worked it out for you.” Tyler said confidently. “You can talk to her about it when we get to the museum.” 

“I don’t know how I’m going to get down into the lab.” Chase winced. “One entrance is a slide and the other one is a pretty steep staircase.” 

“We were just going to hang out in the café.” Tyler said carefully. “If that’s alright with you?” 

Chase nodded. He hoped that Kendall had some good news for him about separating Snide and Heckyl. He wanted to talk to her about it. Convince her that Snide was the bad guy and Heckyl was the victim. 

Like Chase had been once upon a time. 

The jeep was filled with short, polite conversations to fill in the time while they drove to the museum. It was awkward. Chase felt awkward, but he was pretty sure it was mostly because his friends felt awkward. 

“Look.” He said when they finally parked. “I get that this is all screwed up and it’s kind of my fault, but I don’t want everything to – ”

“How is this your fault?” Tyler interrupted, something that was sort of out of character for the leader to do. 

“I was the one who called you – well, you know.” Riley finished lamely. “And I’m sorry. Again.” 

“If I acted, uh, more like you guys, this wouldn’t have happened.” Chase pointed out. “I can do that.” 

Riley and Tyler shared a very calculated, horrified look and turned back to Chase with duel speeches set on the tip of their tongues. Chase could see it in their wide, pleading eyes. 

He wanted none of it. 

“Never mind.” He shut it down swiftly and hard. “I just wish we could go back to when everything was – well – normal.” 

“We can try that.” Tyler offered sincerely. “But we still don’t want you to feel, uh, whatever it is your feeling. You should be yourself. We’re the idiots in this situation.” 

Hurt, lost. Chase closed his eyes and thought of Heckyl. Worried. Chase felt worried. He wanted to focus on Heckyl so he didn’t have to focus on the betrayal of his friends and the super awkwardness cloud that they seemed to be stuck in. 

“Normal is good.” Chase said simply and hoped that would end the conversation they were having. 

It seemed to do the trick because Tyler nodded and Riley got out of the jeep and started to set up Chase’s wheelchair as Tyler helped Chase out of the passenger’s seat so he wouldn’t put any unnecessary pressure on his wounded leg. 

“You guys made it!” Shelby cheered as she appeared from the museums back entrance, the one favored by the group. Her lighthearted nature seemed to lift the cloud of guilt and angst that had surrounded the boys. 

Chase threw her a smile and she lit up like a Christmas tree. 

“You look better.” Shelby said as Tyler helped him settle into the wheelchair and started to push Chase along the path to the door. 

“Thanks,” Chase nodded. “I feel better. Although it could be the meds.” 

“Kendall thinks you’ll recover a little faster than the doctor’s thought.” Riley offered as he opened the door for Chase and the others. 

“The nurses didn’t really like me wearing jewelry,” Chase smirked, “but now that I’m out I don’t plan on being separated from this baby again any time soon.” He said and clasped his hand around the precious gem around his neck. 

Shelby opened her mouth to say something, but closed it suddenly. She smiled, although it was forced and turned to lead the way with Riley after they made it into the building. 

It was a short walk to the café where a banner was hung and balloons littered the area. Black ones. Chase laughed at the sight. It looked like an odd funeral more than a ‘we’re happy you aren’t dead’ party. 

He loved it in a twisted way. 

“You guys didn’t have to do all this.” Chase said as he soaked in the scene. 

“We wanted to.” Kendall said as she came over and gave Chase a gentle hug. Koda waved awkwardly, but kept his distance. Chase didn’t risk a frown at his friend’s behavior. He didn’t want to scare the caveman off by asking him what was wrong. Later, when they had a moment alone Chase would talk to Koda. 

Chase also wasn’t sure what Kendall had told the others of what Chase had said about Heckyl, so he didn’t want to risk bringing up that subject in front of his friends. If they found out that Chase had slept with their most hated enemy, well, Chase wasn’t sure what his friends would do. 

They would probably strip him of his energem and kick him to the curb. 

Which would be the icing on the shit cake he’d been eating recently. 

“I bet you miss your board.” Tyler said conversationally as he handed Chase a piece of cake they had made up for the occasion. 

Chase blinked at him for a moment before he realized Tyler was talking about his skateboard. Chase wasn’t even sure where his board was. “Uh, yeah.” He said to please the red ranger. “I doubt I’ll be able to ride it for a bit, though. Bummed leg needs to heal first.” He frowned at his leg unhappily. 

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Shelby asked carefully. 

“Shelby.” Tyler warned but Chase shook his head and waved off his concern. 

“I’m not fragile.” Chase said pointedly. “I’m not going to break down and cry a puddle of tears over what happened. I’m fine. I mean, it sucked, but I’m alive and everything will be fine.” 

His friends seemed surprised at that. 

“You – tortured.” Koda pointed out. 

“Even the bravest of knights would be unashamed for feeling unease after what you went through.” Ivan said gravely. 

It was hard to explain, Chase realized. The worst part about his capture at first was him dwelling and hurting over what his friends had done. Heckyl hadn’t hurt him. At all. “The food sucked.” Chase offered. “Seriously, I’m not sure who cooks on the ship, but it was nasty.” 

Tyler chuckled a little at that and Shelby elbowed him to shut him up. Chase shot the red ranger a smile to let him know that it was alright to laugh. 

“Really all I saw was one Vivix and Heckyl.” Chase shrugged and picked apart the slice of cake with his fork without eating any of it. “Heckyl didn’t hurt me. He didn’t really even mess with my head at all. He could have, but he didn’t.” 

No one said anything about that, but Kendall looked tense, which Chase translated as her not having told his friends about what he said in the hospital. 

They were entering uncharted waters. 

“He really didn’t hurt you?” Shelby whispered. 

“Why?” Riley wanted to know. “Why take you at all if they didn’t plan on doing anything?” 

“He wanted my energem.” Chase shrugged. 

“Which he gave back.” Riley pointed out harshly. 

Chase looked at Riley and sighed. “He had it when I woke up.” He admitted. “He was going to destroy me, but he changed his mind. He said he was going to use me for experiments or something, but that never happened.” Chase shrugged. “He helped me when I was going through, uh, color withdrawal.” 

“You had a black shirt on that day.” Riley pointed out. Ever the observant one. His logical brain must have been hell to live with, Chase thought darkly and nodded. 

“He took it.” Chase said after a long pause. “He gave me a white one to wear later on.” 

“Why?” Riley frowned. 

“Uh,” Chase blushed. “He said he liked the view.” 

All of his friends stared in shock at that comment. It was hard to defend Heckyl, but Chase needed to try. “He was joking.” At first, Chase added in the safety of his mind. “It was fine.” 

“You got sick.” Kendall said carefully. “I always suspected our colors to be an important tie to the energem, but I never realized it would cause us to get sick.” 

“Honestly I hadn’t thought about it either.” Chase shrugged. “I always felt stronger when I wore black, but it wasn’t until I didn’t have any black to wear that I realized how weak I felt without it.” He shrugged again. “Anyway, when I got sick I told him my suspicions and he gave me my shirt back.” 

“Why?” Riley demanded. 

Chase sighed. “He – he isn’t a terrible guy. I mean, he’s done things, but, what he did he did to survive.” 

“He lied to you.” Riley insisted. “That was his plan, to make you feel sorry for him. He wanted to make it so you’d convince us that he was worth saving.” 

Chase stared at Riley. “I don’t think that was his plan.” He said and earned a glare from the green ranger. “He is worth saving, Riley, I – I think that I,” 

“No.” Riley said sharply. “You have to realize that there is no possible way that a man that evil has a heart. He tortured you.” 

“Snide tortured me.” Chase corrected sharply and shifted in his chair. He wanted to stand up and leave. He wanted to avoid this whole fight and he definitely wished he had told them to shove their curiosity and concern in a place where the sun didn’t shine.

“They are the same person!” Riley shouted. 

“Riley.” Kendall and Tyler warned at the same time. 

“No, he needs to realize that.” Riley insisted. 

“No, they aren’t the same person.” Chase said firmly. “Snide had no idea where Heckyl was keeping me. It wasn’t until he stumbled across me that everything went to hell.” 

“That was his plan, don’t you see it?” Riley said. “He was screwing with you the whole time. Stockholm syndrome at it’s best.” 

“No.” Chase denied and shook his head. “He – we, there is a connection between us. You’ll see. He won’t hurt me. He had his chance. Why even bother with trying to help me? Why pretend to care? Why – this isn’t some long con.” 

“How can you be one-hundred present sure that it isn’t?” Riley asked coldly. 

“Because I know what it’s like to have someone control me!” Chase told him. “I looked into his eyes and I saw someone who was scared of losing what little control he had left, of letting that bastard win. His spirit is breaking. We have to help him. Snide is our enemy.” 

“Chase,” Shelby whispered. “I think you need some time.” 

“Maybe after you’ve been back with us for a while,” Tyler started, but stopped and sighed. “Chase, you’ve been through a lot.” 

“I’m not crazy.” Chase insisted. 

“No one is saying that,” Riley said softly. “We just think he confused you.” 

“He didn’t.” Chase looked down at his hands in his lap. They were shaking. “I’m not confused.” I’m in love, Chase wanted to say, but knew if he did he’d be rebuked for it.

“I think Chase has had enough excitement for one day.” Kendall spoke up and took ahold of Chase’s wheelchair and pushed him out of the café. “No,” She shook her head when Riley and Tyler tried to follow. “Koda.” She called and continued to help Chase retreat from his ‘party’ gone wrong. 

“They’re just worried.” Chase said, more in an attempt to convince himself than Kendall. 

“I’m sorry I let that go on for as long as I did.” Kendall shook her head. “I thought maybe they would believe you, like I do.” 

“You do?” Chase asked hopefully and looked back up at Kendall. She smiled sadly back at him as Koda joined them. 

“You have an excellent judgment of character.” She told him confidently. “I believe that you did see good in Heckyl because I saw good in him once.” She shook her head. “Yes, he’s very smart and sometimes evil, but he could have killed us all if he wanted to, but he didn’t and he hasn’t. I think that he has the potential of being good, if given the chance and if influenced by a person with a pure heart.” 

“Who?” Chase frowned. 

“You, you dummy.” Kendall smiled and looked at Koda who grinned back. 

“Chase an excellent teacher.” Koda nodded. “Taught me lots.” 

Chase smiled at that. Many fond memories of Koda’s first months in the modern world sprung into his mind. It had been way simpler when it had just been the three of them. Not that Chase would change the team, he wouldn’t, but he wished the team could accept imperfections as quickly as perfection. 

“Where are we going?” Chase asked as they exited the museum. 

“To my house.” Kendall nodded. “I have an extra room on the first floor.” 

“I sleep on couch.” Koda insisted.

Chase felt relieved that he wouldn’t have to go stay with Tyler or Riley. He still thought of them as his friends, but at the moment Chase couldn’t deal with their negativity. 

__

It wasn’t until later, when Koda finally conked out that Chase asked the question that had burning up his heart. 

“I,” Kendall started and stopped. “I’m working on it.” She said honestly. “I’m just not sure how to split them apart without killing them in the process.” 

Chase considered the admittedly disappointing news and frowned. “Could we just kill Snide?” He asked with a forced smirk. 

“If only it were that easy, huh?” Kendall sighed. “I’m sorry, Chase.” 

“You aren’t giving up,” Chase asked worriedly. “Are you?” 

“No, no,” Kendall shook her head and placed her hand on his wrist gently. “I’m not. I promise, I’m going to come up with something. I’m just sorry that this isn’t any easier.” 

“If it were easy it wouldn’t be worth it, right?” Chase smirked. It was a little more sincere. “If I were smarter I could help you.” 

“Chase,” Kendall looked at him pointedly. 

Chase laughed. “Not that I’m not smart, in my own way, but I’m not like you or Riley. I don’t get science-y things. I wish I did, but it bores me to tears.” 

“Maybe Riley can help me.” Kendall said thoughtfully. “And Shelby, she occasionally has moments of brilliance.” 

“Shelby probably will help you if you ask.” Chase nodded. “Or if I ask with sad puppy eyes.” 

Kendall stood and rolled her eyes. “You and your ways of evoking sympathy.” She laughed. 

“I do what I can.” Chase winked, but his cheerful expression slipped away. “Riley will be a little harder to convince.” 

“You know he has a crush on you, right?” Kendall asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“What?” Chase looked up at her in surprise. “No.” 

“Yes.” Kendall corrected. “He hides it well, but I see how he looks at you. I think he’s jealous and that’s why he’s been lashing out.” She shook her head and moved to pick up some things scattered around the room. Mindlessly cleaning. “You should talk to him about it.” 

“If he finds out I slept with Heckyl he’s never going to talk to me again.” Chase whispered. 

Kendall dropped the glass she was holding. It shattered on the wooden floor. 

Koda slept through the noise. 

“You, what?” Kendall asked with wide eyes. “How the heck did that happen?” She asked with an arched eyebrow as she went to grab a broom. 

Chase sighed and waited until Kendall had reentered the room before he tried to explain. “He got hit with some sort of sex-drive juice. He was going to let his crew just, use him.” Chase shook his head. “He wasn’t going to hurt me. I could see that. He was going to – I don’t know, he thought about it but changed his mind. I offered myself to him.” 

“Chase,” Kendall stopped her methodical cleaning and stared at her friend. “That’s rape.” 

“Not really.” Chase shook his head. “I offered and he refused. I had to talk him into it, so if anyone raped anyone it was me raping him.” 

“Chase.” Kendall repeated, still broken in tone. 

“Kendall,” Chase sighed and closed his eyes, “It was the best sex I’ve ever had, so I’m not complaining. I’m not broken. I don’t feel bad for doing it. I’d do it again. I actually regret not doing it again, if you know what I mean.” He winked playfully, but it didn’t seem to ease Kendall or her worry. “Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have said anything to you either.” 

“I knew you had feelings for him.” Kendall said and moved to toss out the broken pieces of glass. “I just didn’t realize it had gotten so complicated already. I’m just worried, I’m not judging you.” 

“Well, I’m grateful for that.” Chase forced a strained smile. “I’m grateful for you.” The smile turned a little more genuine. “I’m just worried that I keep making unforgivable mistakes and that I’m not going to fit in with everyone anymore.” 

“Chase,” Kendall plopped down next to him on the couch. “You aren’t going to lose the team, not even because you love Heckyl. You were trapped on that ship with him. You saw things that we haven’t. Maybe this is some nefarious plan to confuse you, or maybe Heckyl really does have the potential to be good. We won’t know until we see it for ourselves. You have to let us catch up to where you are.” 

“I can be patient.” Chase said with a small, nervous smile. “I can wait, Kendall, but please don’t look at me like I’m broken, because I’m not.” 

Kendall forced her own smile and nodded slow. “I can’t promise anything, Chase, but I can promise to try.” 

Chase nodded and let his head rest on her shoulder as they stared at the blank screen of the television together in silence. 

__

Nothing was the same after Heckyl had given Chase back. Before it had been easy to pretend. Heckyl enjoyed frightening his crew and coming up with new and unique plans to get ahold of the energem’s before Snide. 

Everything was empty and Heckyl blamed the void on Chase. The foolish human had somehow managed to get under the alien’s skin. 

It was loathsome. 

Heckyl was grumpy. 

“Now would be a good time for you to destroy something.” Fury offered easily when he found Heckyl brooding. “Maybe you’ll see the human in the carnage.” 

“Ooh,” Poisandra clapped her hands gleefully. “You could destroy their precious museum!” 

Although destroying a building that seemed to fund a lot of the power ranger’s income, Heckyl shrugged a shoulder at the suggestion. 

His heart wasn’t in it. 

Yet, the idea of seeing Chase was strong. He wasn’t even positive that the black ranger had survived Snide’s torture session. Although it didn’t appear as though the wounds he had received were fatal, Heckyl knew very little about the human’s anatomy. 

“Trouble sounds like fun.” Heckyl decided. He couldn’t go and fight just to see Chase. He needed to push Chase away, even though Heckyl wanted nothing more than to steal the man away again and never let him go. 

No, he wouldn’t put Chase in that kind of danger and he needed to prove to Chase that he wasn’t worth saving. Only then would Heckyl be sure that Chase was safe. If Chase hated him again, things would be fine. 

He just needed a plan. 

A devious plan. Something sinister and unforgiving – something despicable. 

“I think I have just the plan for the optimum amount of fun.” Heckyl grinned wickedly.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: mildly suicidal actions...maybe more than mildly.

“Monster activity.” Kendall announced to Tyler, Koda and Chase, the only rangers in the lab. 

Chase stood, but remembered that fighting on crutches probably wasn’t the best idea. He growled a little and looked at Kendall pleadingly. 

“I’ll go with them. You can stay and feed us information on the monitors.” Kendall offered and nodded to Tyler and Koda. “Call the others!” Kendall shouted to Chase over her shoulder as the small group ran out the door. 

On the screen there were several security feeds watching the monster as it used bursts of fire to burn down trees in the city square. After sending a quick message to the others and giving them the location, Chase was left to watch the fight from afar. 

He felt frustrated, but even more so when he noticed Heckyl was there with the monster. He had a wicked smile and Chase could see his lips move has the power rangers arrived. For a moment Chase thought he saw a flash of concern flicker across the alien’s hansom face, but it was hard to tell on the monitor. 

The fight was impressive and Heckyl continued to taunt his friends as they battled. 

Then Kendall went down and Heckyl managed to stand over her. If it hadn’t been for Ivan – Chase shuddered as he watched the screen. Kendall still wasn’t moving. Chase stood despite the pain and gripped the edge of the table as his heart pounded heavily in his chest. 

There was no way to tell if Kendall was alive. She had de-morphed and the force of the hit, which was never a good sign. 

Tyler and Koda took out the monster with Shelby’s assist. Heckyl didn’t seem overly concerned, gave some parting words and vanished from sight. 

Chase tried to contact the others, but they were all gathered around Kendall’s still unmoving form. 

He felt sick to his stomach until finally Koda gathered up Kendall and moved out of view from the cameras. 

It took twenty minutes for the others to return to the base. 

“How is she?” Chase asked as he hobbled forward on his crutches. 

Tyler looked at him and shook his head subtly as Ivan helped Koda lay their mentor across the table. 

Keeper appeared, as he often did when things got really bad. Chase held his breath as Keeper waved his staff over Kendall’s body and ‘assessed’ her. 

“She has been struck by a poison.” Keeper announced. “This was not from the monster you fought, but from Heckyl himself.” 

“What?” Chase gasped. “No.” Heckyl wouldn’t have done that. He had told Heckyl that Kendall could help him. There was no way that Heckyl would try and harm Kendall – it didn’t make any sense!

Riley narrowed his eyes at Chase before he looked at Keeper. “How do we cure her?” 

Keeper hesitated, which was never a good sign. “There is a way to help slow down the process of the poison, but I am afraid it won’t cure her. This poison is very specific, only Heckyl can reverse it.” 

“Still think Heckyl is worth saving?” Riley asked Chase coldly as Chase stared at them all in shock. 

“I don’t understand why he did this.” Chase whispered, more to himself than his friends. “There has to be a reason.” 

“He wants to destroy us all.” Tyler said, his voice far softer than Riley’s had been. 

Chase shook his head in denial. No. This was something else. It had to be. Heckyl wanted to be free, that’s what he had told Chase. Chase had believed him. Chase loved him. In some twisted way he had fallen in love with Heckyl. 

“No.” Chase shook his head. “No, this isn’t right. Something is wrong. I-I have to go.” He stood and reached for his crutches only for them to be grabbed and held out of his reach by Riley. 

“He did this to us because he is a bad guy.” Riley shouted at Chase, his face contorted in anger. “Kendall is going to die because of him.” 

Chase recoiled. His stomach twisted inside him and he looked at Kendall with a sinking feeling. He felt like it was his fault. He had told Heckyl about Kendall and how she was the only one he knew that could separate him from Snide.

Kendall was Heckyl’s best bet, so why hurt her? Unless Riley and the others were right. Maybe Heckyl had played Chase during his captivity. Maybe he had extracted the information he needed and simply let Chase go.

“No,” Chase shook his head and limped towards the exit. 

“Let him go.” Tyler’s voice followed Chase as he fled the room awkwardly. It hurt to walk, but the pain was numbed by the hurt in Chase’s heart. 

He needed answers.   
___

Heckyl knew what he needed to do, but he hesitated as he watched the screen. He watched as Chase stood in a secluded part of the park and screamed. In many ways Heckyl was glad that he couldn’t hear the words the black ranger was shouting. It didn’t stop him from guessing. He imagined Chase cursing at him and threatening his existence. 

This was what he had wanted. 

It was for the best. 

Chase needed to hate him so that Chase would eventually destroy him, and Snide. It was the only way to ensure that Snide couldn’t take Heckyl’s happiness away again. 

Heckyl figured he could die at Chase’s hands and be okay with it. He couldn’t live with the knowledge that he or his counterpart had taken Chase’s life. It was just too much of a risk. 

No, once the purple ranger was dead Chase would seek revenge and the end would come. 

Not that Heckyl would make it easy on Chase or his friends, but eventually good would prevail and Heckyl would be no more. No more pain or hurt. It would all end. 

Heckyl was rooting for his enemy, at least on the inside. His crew could never learn that his loyalties were less than true to their cause. If they were to learn the truth this power over them would be broken and there would be no saving Earth. 

“Time to face the music.” Heckyl sighed as he watched Chase pick up a rock and toss it at the sky, as if that was where Heckyl was hiding. 

__

“Heckyl!” Chase screamed hoarsely at the fluffy white clouds above him. “Heckyl!” 

“You know my ship doesn’t actually fly, right?” Heckyl asked smugly as he leaned against a tree just behind Chase. 

Chase whirled around despite the pain the movement caused in his injured leg. “Undo it.” 

“Undo what?” Heckyl asked and cocked his head to the side playfully. 

“You know what.” Chase narrowed his eyes. “I – I know you want to be free, please, you need to show them!” 

“I am free.” Heckyl snarled. “Free to destroy whoever I choose.” 

“She can help you.” Chase pleaded and for a moment Heckyl just stared. 

“Help me?” Heckyl said finally. “She’s nothing. You are nothing. You’ve dreamed up feelings in your head and I used them against you. You’re a fool. It’s not my fault you forgot I was your enemy.” 

“No.” Chase shook his head in denial again. He felt like everything was twisted around, but somehow he was the only one who knew it. Maybe he was crazy. Maybe he was wrong. 

“This poison,” Heckyl held up the little glass bottle and smiled at it like it was a prize. “With this I will destroy each of your friends until you are the only one left. Then maybe I’ll kill you, or wait for you to kill yourself.” 

Chase eyed the bottle. It was a bad plan. A terrible plan, truly, but he couldn’t see any other way to prove that he was right and the world was wrong. He drew his gun and fired, the blast struck the unsuspecting Heckyl in the wrist and sent the bottle of poison flying. 

Ignoring his pain Chase dove and caught the bottle in his hand before he hit the ground. He didn’t waste time, too afraid that Heckyl would use his magic to stop him. He twisted open the cap and downed the contents of the glass. 

It tasted terrible. Like black liquorish and gasoline. 

“You fool!” Heckyl accused. 

Chase grinned up at the alien and pressed his free hand over his aggravated wound. It was bleeding again. Sliced open from the abuse Chase had caused it. 

“You’ll die.” Heckyl added when Chase didn’t say anything. 

“So let me die.” Chase told him. “Let me die if that was your grand plan. I deserve it. I told Kendall about you and how I felt for you. I am the reason she’s dying. She was going to help you. She had agreed to help you and I asked her to look out for you in the fight. I deserve to die.” 

Heckyl looked furious as he suddenly paced the grass in front of Chase. His blue electricity dancing in the air around him and Chase. “You moron. You idiot. You ruined everything!” Heckyl raged. 

“I loved you.” Chase whispered. “You were going to be free.” The world twisted around him and he felt his lungs seize a little as he groaned. 

Suddenly Heckyl was by his side, his hands on Chase’s face. “An entire bottle of that stuff will kill you in a matter of hours.” 

“I guess I do have a death wish.” Chase said and looked back into Heckyl’s eyes with a longing he was grateful he wouldn’t have to live with long. Heckyl didn’t want him and Kendall was going to die because of him. 

It was a world Chase was happy to leave behind. 

“It’s what you want.” Chase whispered as his world was covered in growing black dots. “This is what you wanted.” 

__

Chase went limp in Heckyl’s light grasp. The alien felt panicked. Frozen in place. This was not his plan. The plan was to anger Chase into destroying Heckyl and Snide, not destroying himself. 

In retrospect Heckyl should have counted on Chase being mildly suicidal. It was an annoyance that Heckyl had over looked, unfortunately. There was no way to take it back. The poison was fatal. Fury had promised him that much. 

His heart clenched tightly in his chest as he dropped down on his knees next to Chase’s prone figure. The human’s breathing was already ragged and wheezing. With a shaking hand Heckyl brushed his fingers across Chase’s paling skin. The stain of crimson on his right leg was spreading through the fabric of his jeans. The knife wound he had sustained had split open during the scuffle. 

This was Heckyl’s doing. 

Snide hadn’t needed to lift a finger. Heckyl had destroyed his one chance at happen all on his own. 

“No.” Heckyl shouted so angrily that a flock of birds took to the sky in fright from the sudden loud sound. “You will not die, do you hear me?” He screamed at Chase’s unconscious form. Beads of sweat collected on the human’s forehead as his body raged with a sudden and intense fever. “I’ll rescue you from this.” He vowed and winced a little, unwilling to simply leave Chase in his declining condition. 

Heckyl stood and did the first thing he could think of to raise the other rangers’ attentions. He started to destroy trees with balls of blue fire. 

“Heckyl!” The red ranger’s voice called as the group showed up a few minutes later. Too long, Heckyl cursed inwardly as he turned his blazing eyes upon his enemy. 

“Chase.” The pink ranger gasped as she and the blue ranger immediately moved to Chase’s side. Heckyl took a step towards his mate and growled before he caught himself. He needed the rangers to take him somewhere safe while he came up with a cure. 

“Stay back, you fiend!” The gold ranger shouted and jumped in front of Chase’s unresponsive form. 

It took a lot of will power not to destroy the bunch right then and there. They were in Heckyl’s way. He needed to be by Chase’s side. Chase shouldn’t be alone when the poison ate away his time. 

No. Heckyl couldn’t be with Chase. 

That would be the opposite of what he hoped to accomplish, but still it was hard to leave Chase among those who he considered hostile. 

“What did you do to him?” The green ranger accused. 

“He did that to himself.” Heckyl tipped up his chin triumphantly. Inwardly he felt like vomiting. “He was so sure if he was poisoned that I would save him.” 

The pink ranger looked up from Chase and to Heckyl desperately. “Will you? Save him?” 

Heckyl made a dismissive noise and did the best thing he could think of. 

He vanished. 

__

“Help me lift up.” Koda requested Ivan as he started to gather Chase into his arms. 

“He poisoned himself?” Riley breathed as he stared at the empty space Heckyl once occupied. 

“He was confused.” Tyler shook his head and turned to the others as Ivan moved to help Koda with Chase. “He was so sure that Heckyl could change.” 

“Now he’s going to die because of it.” Riley said gravely. His heart hurt because he knew he was part of the reason Chase ran off and got himself into so much trouble. Now they were going to lose two friends instead of one. 

“This is my fault.” Tyler said, shocking Riley. “I should have let you go after him. I should have gone after him. He wasn’t in his right mind.” 

“He thought he was in love with Heckyl.” Shelby shook her head as she brushed away tears. “He thought Heckyl was capable of loving him. I don’t think we could have convinced him otherwise.” 

“But maybe we could have listened.” Riley whispered. “I could have listened. I was so – I let my feelings and anger run my mouth. We should have tried to understand.” 

“How can we understand such an unbelievable thing?” Ivan pointed out. “Chase is our friend, but Heckyl is our enemy.” 

“Chase believe in Heckyl.” Koda pointed out. “We believe in Chase.” 

“But we didn’t.” Tyler pointed out. “Maybe we should have, but it’s obvious that Heckyl isn’t the guy Chase believed he was. It’s Heckyl’s poison that’s killing Ms. Morgan and Chase.” 

“Maybe we can synthesis a cure.” Riley perked up. “Shelby and I will work on it as soon as we get back to the lab. It would be better if Ms. Morgan could help us, but we have to try.” 

“Chase must have been exposed to more of the poison than Ms. Morgan, given how bad off he is.” Shelby agreed. “Maybe we can use his blood to extract a sample of the poison to work with.” 

“Let’s do it.” Tyler agreed and led the group back towards the vehicles. 

__

“And you are sure this will cure them?” Heckyl said as he eyed the antidote suspiciously. It was a startling shade of blue. It was almost too good to be true. 

“Yes.” The monster said, its tongue flickered as it formed the ‘s’ sound. It was a snake of a beast, one of Sledge’s minions that liked to hide in the shadows. Heckyl hadn’t interacted much with the creature, but he knew it had a useful ability. 

Antidotes. 

“You can guarantee it will save their lives?” Heckyl needed confirmation. 

“Yes.” The creature repeated in the same hissing way. “They will be cured. They will live. I promissse.” 

Heckyl made a face at the way the creature hissed. He nodded and left the cell as confidently as possible without appearing as if he were running away. He wasn’t running away. Snake monsters were totally normal. 

At least on Sledge’s ship. 

With a shudder Heckyl made it to his own room and sealed the door behind him. He looked at the blue liquid in the small glass vial and considered how he could get it to his mate and his mate’s friend. 

Mate. Was that what Chase was? Chase had gone down thinking that Heckyl hated him. That Heckyl had betrayed him. 

No, after this Chase would likely change his mind, just as Heckyl had wanted and never want to speak to him again. 

The idea of silence hurt. The idea of never talking with Chase again hurt. Heckyl had believed that when he returned Chase to his friends that the feelings Heckyl had developed would disappear. They hadn’t. If anything the feelings had grown and his heart felt empty. 

Still, Heckyl couldn’t think of Chase as anything less than his lover. The one. He’d give everything up for Chase, if only Chase would be safe in his presence. Until Snide was destroyed their relationship was destined to be a tragedy. There was no changing it, not even if Kendall could separate them. 

Heckyl couldn’t let that happen. No. Snide alone would destroy the universe out of spite. He would vaporize the planet and collect the energems from space if he needed. It would be messy, but Snide wouldn’t care. He’d laugh and revel the carnage. 

If they were still intertwined together Heckyl could maintain some semblance of control. He could thwart any plans made and still keep the monsters under his influence. 

Chase would survive and even though Chase would hate him, Heckyl knew it was for the best. 

Villains weren’t meant to have happy endings. 

__

“He can barely breathe.” Shelby told Keeper as they stood by the table Chase was laid upon. 

“Ms. Morgan isn’t as bad off,” Tyler said with concern. “How do we help him?” 

Keeper looked from Shelby to Tyler and shook his head slowly. “There is nothing to do. We have given him the elixir to slow down the poison’s effects and it burned out of his system before it could be of any use.”

Riley felt sick to his stomach as he watched Chase struggle to breathe. There was no way to save him. No humanly way. 

“I – I need some air.” Riley whispered and fled the room before the emotions he kept tightly bottled up could overflow. He managed to hold off the tears until he reached the entrance of the museum. 

It was dark and the museum had long been closed. The sky was littered with sparkling stars, but their beauty did nothing to calm to storm within Riley. 

His friends were going to die and there was no way he could save them. 

“Is it too late?” 

Heckyl’s soft voice startled Riley out of his thoughts. Their eyes locked and Riley quickly moved to a defensive position. 

“What are you doing here?” He demanded, but he already guessed Heckyl was going to try and poison him as well. 

“Here.” Heckyl said with a huff and held his hand out revealing two vials of blue liquid. “This should cure them.” 

Riley startled, but didn’t completely buy in to Heckyl’s act. “How do I know this won’t somehow infect the rest of us?” 

“You don’t.” Heckyl rolled his eyes and wiggled his arm a little. “Take it. He won’t last much longer – it has already been too long.” 

Riley blinked in surprise. “Why would you help us now?” 

Heckyl snarled a little but relaxed when Riley timidly took the two vials of antidote. “I needed him to hate me.” Heckyl admitted quietly and looked away from Riley in order to hide something. 

The truth, Riley realized. Heckyl was telling him the truth. “You knew that Kendall was important to him.” 

“I needed him to hate me so that he would destroy me.” Heckyl tried to explain. His pleading blue eyes turned back to Riley and he looked so devastatingly broken that Riley’s heart lurched in response. “Please, take the credit for this.” He nodded to the potion. “Tell him anything you’d like, but don’t let him know I assisted you in helping him. He needs to hate me. It’s the only way.” 

“Why?” Riley asked. “If you do love him why do you need him to hate you?”

Heckyl took a step back and shook his head. “Loving me will get him killed.” 

Without another word Heckyl disappeared in a flash of blue light. 

Riley stared at the empty space Heckyl had once occupied in complete confusion. He hadn’t wanted to believe Chase. It had seemed so impossible. Ludicrous. Chase had to have dreamed it all up. The black ranger was known to be the kind to think with his heart first – or his penis.

That wasn’t fair, Riley sighed and looked down at the supposed antidote. Chase was a good guy. The best. Riley didn’t always agree with Chase’s methods, but Chase was reliable and a good friend. Riley’s jealously needed to be checked. He knew he needed to be more supportive. Chase deserved it. 

Still, he also needed to protect Chase from himself. 

But Heckyl seemed sincere. Heckyl had given them the cure, potentially. 

Nothing was making any sense. 

Riley needed to think, but that could wait until after his friends were no longer dying. 

He turned and bolted into the museum.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I started my summer job and it has been an exhausting couple of weeks. Ugh.
> 
> Warnings: Things happen in this chapter...
> 
> Yep.

“Where did you get it?” Tyler asked again. Riley looked up from Kendall’s still sleeping form. 

This was it, the opportunity to lie. Lying wouldn’t be easy, though. Riley needed a story that would be remotely believable and, well, he needed time to think it through before he committed. No, lying wouldn’t go over well. Not to mention lying was exhausting. 

Riley was done lying. 

“Heckyl.” Riley admitted quietly, but firm. They’d already given Chase and Kendall the antidote. Their condition, according to Keeper, was improving. Kendall faster than Chase, but that was to be expected. Chase was slowly crawling towards being okay again, but Riley could barely look in the sleeping man’s direction. 

“What?” Shelby asked. 

“That monster?” Ivan asked from Chase’s side. Koda, on Chase’s other side looked up with confused eyes. 

“Riley.” Tyler breathed. “We should have run tests before we gave it to them.” 

“It’s fixing them.” Riley shrugged a shoulder. “You didn’t see the emotion in his eyes. That isn’t something you can fake. He cares for Chase.” 

“Then why he hurt Kendall?” Koda asked with an edge of anger. “He tried to kill her.” 

Riley shrugged again. “He did it so that Chase would hate him.” 

“That doesn’t really make sense, Riley.” Tyler pointed out. 

“No, it does.” Shelby said slowly. “It makes sense. Chase got hurt. Snide hurt him on the ship. Snide tortured him even though Heckyl had some sort of attraction to him. Snide must have done it to spite Heckyl, or something so Heckyl was afraid that Chase would be targeted again and again until Chase died.” 

Riley nodded quietly. “He said he needed to make Chase hate him so that Chase would destroy him.” 

“So his intensions towards Sir Chase were true.” Ivan whispered as he looked down at Chase’s still sleeping form. 

“So it seems.” Riley agreed reluctantly. “I didn’t want to believe it was true.” 

“It’s hard to believe.” Shelby nodded. 

“Kendall.” Koda said suddenly and stood from his chair to join Riley at Kendall’s side. She furrowed her brow as she returned to consciousness and Koda took her hand as Riley moved to stand by Koda’s side. 

Tiredly Kendall blinked open her eyes and looked from Koda to Riley and then to Tyler. 

“How do you feel, Ms. Morgan?” Shelby asked at the foot of Kendall’s bed. 

Kendall looked back at Riley and frowned at him. 

“Ms. Morgan?” Riley asked worriedly when she didn’t answer. 

“Kendall?” Koda urged when Kendall’s eyes widened a little bit and her hands went to her ears. 

“What’s wrong with her?” Tyler asked Keeper as the alien reentered the room. 

“Kendall, can you hear me?” Keeper asked as she joined Shelby at the foot of Kendall’s bed. 

Kendall tugged on her ear and shook her head as if she were trying to get water out of her ears. She seemed unaware that Keeper had entered the room. 

“Kendall!” Riley shouted loudly. The jarring sound startled the others in the room, including Kendall who jumped and stared at Riley in surprise. 

“I heard that.” Kendall said a little too loudly. She winced and rubbed at her neck as if talking that loudly had hurt her throat. 

“We should run some tests.” Keeper said to Shelby and Riley who nodded. 

Three hours later the group gathered around Kendall to discuss their findings. “The antidote worked in the sense of it curing the poison.” Keeper told the other rangers, “But I’m afraid it came with a terrible cost to Kendall. She’s lost fifty percent of her hearing in her right ear and nearly seventy percent in her left.” 

“This can’t be happening.” Shelby shook her head. Riley held out a data pad for Kendall to read the results and they watched as their leader’s eyes filled with shock and uncertainty. 

“What about hearing aids?” Tyler asked quickly. 

Riley nodded. “Between the three of us we should be able to develop something that works.” He glanced at Shelby who returned his nod. “But the biggest problem is with Chase. He was exposed to a far higher dose of the poison. There’s a good chance that his hearing is irreparably damaged.” 

“If it is his hearing that was targeted.” Keeper pointed out suddenly. 

“What?” Shelby gasped. “What do you mean?” 

“It could very well be that the poison attacked one of Chase’s other senses.” Keeper sighed. “Or it was the antidote that caused this. At this point it is very difficult to tell what caused the damage or if it will be the same with Chase as it is with Kendall.” 

“So we’ll just have to wait and see.” Tyler said softly and glanced over at Chase’s still slumbering form. 

__

Heckyl paced. He wished he could have forced the green ranger into taking him to Chase. He wished he could have seen Chase, even if only for a moment. It was foolish. Childish. Love was childish. Love was unrealistic. It was futile.

Love was like a cockroach, tough to squash. 

The waiting was the hardest part. There was no telling if the green ranger believed him or not. If the green pest had ignored the antidote there was a good chance that Chase was already dead. 

No, that wasn’t an option. Chase would live and Heckyl would see him again. 

__

When Chase woke it was dim in the lab. Nighttime, he figured as he blinked the blur from his eyes. He turned his head and noted that Riley was sprawled in the chair next to him. 

Riley. 

It was hard to tell exactly how Chase felt about his friend. Riley hadn’t exactly been acting like a friend lately. 

Chase was a pretty forgiving guy, but he wasn’t a welcome mat for being punched in the balls repeatedly without retaliating. 

Still, he couldn’t completely blame Riley, or the other rangers. They only knew the side of Chase that Chase allowed them to see. The slacker. The flirt. They didn’t know the rest of the story or the darkness of his past. 

That was Chase’s fault. 

Maybe it was time to come clean to his friends. Maybe Kendall was right. 

Kendall. 

Chase’s heart froze up in his chest. If he was still alive that had to mean that Heckyl had come through – that they had both been saved. 

He opened his mouth to wake Riley, but no sound reached his ears. Chase frowned and opened his mouth again – not even a squeak. 

Fear shot through Chase and he reached over and grabbed Riley’s knee, startling the green ranger awake. 

“Chase.” Riley said and shot to his feet. Chase parted his lips again as the fear started to soar inside of him. Again there was no sound. “Chase.” Riley whispered and gripped Chase’s hand as he watched Chase struggle to make any sound. “It’s okay, it’ll be okay.” 

It wasn’t okay. Chase couldn’t talk. His voice was important. Vital. His breath came quickly and he clutched at his chest as the panic seized his heart. 

“It’ll be okay, breathe.” Riley coached and rubbed Chase’s shoulder. “It’s going to be okay, Chase, we’re going to get through this.” 

“What happened?” Tyler asked as he and Ivan entered the room, armed with large cups of coffee. 

“He can’t talk,” Riley answered. “He’s panicking.” 

“He can’t talk?” Tyler echoed and moved to Chase’s other side and took his hand in his. “Chase?” 

Chase turned to Tyler, pale and shaky and tried to say something, anything. No sound came forth. He held Tyler’s hand tighter as he tried to speak and failed. 

“You need to calm down, Chase,” Riley coached gently. “Breathe in, and out, slowly – that’s it.” 

It was hard and painful, but Chase listened to Riley and locked eyes with him. He wanted to ask questions, but his head was buzzing with panic and uncertainty. What was happening? Why couldn’t he talk? Where was Kendall? The questions stormed inside of Chase’s head as he tried desperately to listen to Riley’s gentle coaching. Breathe in, breathe out. 

“There you go.” Riley whispered as Chase calmed down to the point that he wasn’t in danger of passing out again. 

“Chase,” Tyler started, but stopped and looked at Ivan who looked pale. 

Ivan stepped forward and smiled a little although he didn’t say anything. Chase locked eyes with the knight and took in a quivering breath. 

“Kendall is okay.” Riley offered. “She’s fine, Chase.” 

“Well,” Tyler started, but stopped when Riley shot him a glare. Chase watched it all with questioning eyes. “She, there were some complications because of the antidote. You, well, she lost some of her hearing.”

Chase’s eyes widened in horror and he looked from Tyler to Riley. 

“She’s okay.” Riley repeated. “She’s upset, but she’s alive. It’s fixable, Chase.” 

“We think it’s permanent.” Tyler added quietly. “I’m sorry Chase, your voice, there’s a good chance you won’t get it back.” 

It hit Chase then. He wasn’t going to be able to talk again. He wasn’t going to be able to sing or laugh or joke. Under all his own self-assigned pain Chase was grateful that Kendall would be okay. She was broken, but it was manageable. They could fix her. She would be okay. 

Maybe it was okay that he couldn’t be fixed. 

Maybe it was justice for what he had done. Sleeping with the enemy. 

Maybe what he had done was unforgivable. 

__

Kendall came in later and held Chase’s hand. It took a moment for him to look up at her. She smiled. 

“This wasn’t your fault.” She said a little too loudly. She blushed a little when he flinched at her voice. “Sorry, sort of figuring this all out.” 

Chase nodded. 

He could relate. 

Kendall winced and squeezed his hand gently. “We’re going to make it through this.” She promised. “I’m not saying it’s not going to suck, but we’re going to continue to fight. You are not alone.” 

Chase dropped his gaze. He couldn’t help but feel alone. He was used to being able to talk things out and now he was confined to his own mind. 

“Hey,” Kendall said soothingly. Chase looked at her cautiously. “I’m not going to let you down.” 

Chase nodded. 

He wouldn’t let Kendall down either. Not if he could help it.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again for the delay. My brain is mush. 
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of sexy times (not detailed)

Life without a voice was difficult, but Chase was managing. Finally his leg had healed enough that he could walk without crutches. Well, limp without crutches, but at least he didn’t have to worry about splitting his thigh open anymore. 

Kendall was even talking about him being able to use his skateboard again in a few days. 

At least Chase had that to look forward to. 

His friends were great, although they hovered without really saying much. They apologized a lot. A ‘lot’ might have actually been an understatement. Riley specifically tried to talk to Chase over and over again and Chase sat and listened. He nodded at the appropriate times, but he had no voice to say anything. 

Chase could write down his thoughts, but his handwriting had never been stellar. He could use a data pad, but he wasn’t sure what he had left to say. Apparently writing the words, ‘I forgive you’ aren’t as powerful as verbally affirming it. At least to the power rangers. 

Most of the time he was surrounded by people, his friends, but he felt so separate from it all. Kept out. Put aside. It was like an invisible wall had been built around Chase and there was an intercom that only worked one way. 

“Hey Chase.” Riley said as he came into the lab. Chase had been spending a lot of time there, crashing on the cot Kendall set up in the corner. Koda loved the company and they tended to play video games well into the night. It was nice. Chase could still be animated during the video games even if he couldn’t make the sounds he used to. The cheers, the gasps, the taunts. Koda was silent too, out of comradely or something. Solidarity. 

Chase was grateful for Koda. 

Taking a deep breath, Chase waved his mute greeting to Riley as he sat down next to him. Chase was fiddling with his skateboard. He’d taken it apart and put it back together three times that morning out of sheer boredom. 

“Uh,” Riley started, but stopped as he took a breath and took Chase’s hand. “I need to talk to you.” He said carefully. Chase blinked back at him, but reluctantly set down his tools and turned his full focus on Riley. “When – you,” Riley started, but again hesitated. “When you were poisoned we did everything we could to help you, but we were stuck, you know? I left and, and Heckyl came to me.” 

Heckyl, Chase mouthed. His heart jumped. He had wondered how he and Kendall had been cured but had never brought himself to ask. He was terrified. What if Heckyl had left him to die? What if he had been wrong? 

“He gave me the cure.” Riley continued. “You were right, he does care about you.” 

Chase’s eyes filled with tears. There were no words – not that he could say them if he could have found them. 

Riley smiled faintly. “You were right. He targeted Kendall so that you wouldn’t want him anymore. So that you would be angry and want revenge against him. He needed you to hate him so that you’d be safe. He told me Snide will target you because you mean something to him, Chase. Loving him is going to get you killed.” 

It made sense, Chase thought as he soaked in the information. He breathed it in. Heckyl still felt something. There was something there between them. Chase hadn’t dreamed it up. It hadn’t been a lie. 

But Heckyl was also afraid. Rightfully so. 

“He told me to lie to you.” Riley continued after a moment. Chase looked up at the green ranger and frowned in confusion as Riley continued. “He didn’t want you to know that he saved you. He wanted me to take the credit.” 

Chase raised an eyebrow in question. 

“He wanted to protect you.” Riley smiled lightly. “He loves you. I didn’t want to see it, but I did, I do. I’m going to help you, Chase. We’re going to help him. If we can separate them maybe you two can be together.” 

Chase’s heart stumbled in his chest. Would Heckyl still want him? He was a broken toy.

“Hey,” Riley broke through Chase’s doubt. “This doesn’t change anything. We’re going to free him and everything is going to work out for you. Chase, we’re on your side. You are my friend. I was – I was jealous, I think. Of you. I’m sorry I’m such a crappy friend.” 

Chase considered the apology. He had mostly gotten over it. Sort of. Really so much had happened Chase had buried Riley’s words and actions under other worries and, well, his new feelings for Heckyl. 

After a moment Chase squeezed Riley’s hand and offered him a genuine smile. Although negative words could hurt deeply, positive words could also heal. Chase felt that Riley was truly sorry for what he had done and said and even if Riley were to make the same mistakes in the future, he deserved Chase’s forgiveness. 

It’s what friends did. They forgave. 

“Thank you.” Riley breathed gratefully, as if a weight had been lifted from his chest and he could finally relax. Chase smiled and knew he had made the right choice. Riley was a friend and Chase needed all the friends he could get if he was going to make it through. 

__

It had to happen sometime. Sure, it was sooner than they would have liked. Chase would have liked a few more practice rounds before he was thrown back into the thick of things – voiceless. 

“We’re here with you.” Riley said as they jumped out of Tyler’s jeep and headed for the battlefield. It was rare that they fought a monster in the middle of the city. 

At least Kendall had her newly built, state-of-the-art hearing aids. She could hear just as good, if not better than she could before the poison. So they really only had one disabled power ranger. Only one potential liability. 

It wasn’t like the power rangers tended to communicate much during battles anyways. No one called out for help. Not really. 

It would be fine. 

“We have your back, Chase.” Shelby added and squeezed his arm. He nodded. It was all he could do. It was everything he could do. To put their worries to rest he gave them a thumbs up and trotted after them. 

The monster of the week was scaly. Green and slimy too. It’s spit was destroying whatever it touched. 

Vivix appeared and the power rangers started to fight. Chase tried to keep a level head, but as soon as Heckyl appeared he felt incredibly distracted. There must have been some sort of plan to get them to fight one another because that’s what happened. 

Chase stood in front of Heckyl on top of a five level parking garage. 

“You look good.” Heckyl said. He sounded nervous. Chase parted his lips under his mask and tried very hard to say something, anything, but he quickly remembered that was impossible. His voice was gone. 

How was this supposed to work? 

“I’m glad they were able to help you.” Heckyl said and cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes when Chase didn’t reply. “Now we go back to being enemies, right? Whatever happened between us is done. I betrayed you, you realize that, right?” 

Chase shook his head and debated on de-morphing so he could communicate with Heckyl better. He didn’t have his voice, but he still had body language to communicate, to clue Heckyl in that he couldn’t respond verbally. 

Life was tricky. 

“Say something!” Heckyl shouted suddenly, face contorted with anger. “I thought you would at least say something to me.” 

Chase wanted to say something. He wanted to tell Heckyl that he was an idiot to think that Riley was going to lie to help keep them apart. The power rangers were brutally honest, that was part of the problem. 

Just when Chase had decided to de-morph Heckyl charged. Chase raised his hands only in defense as he was tackled and the ground suddenly opened up under them. There was a rush of sound and dust and rocks and Heckyl and nothing really made sense until they descended into darkness. 

The parking garage had collapsed and somehow they ended up in the rubble. 

Panicked Chase gripped Heckyl’s arms and shook him until the alien made a noise. A groan followed by a cough. 

“Foolish, stupid.” Heckyl began to curse and stood from on top of Chase and out of his grip. Chase sat up with a silent groan and de-morphed as he looked around. It was like they were in a cave. Streams of light floated down from cracks in the unstable ceiling up above them. For now they weren’t in any danger of being flatted, but Chase figured with his luck that was bound to change. 

Slowly Chase stood to his feet and dusted off his clothes before he approached Heckyl and took his hand. Heckyl flinched back and out of Chase’s grasp, face screwed up in confusion. Chase smiled timidly and held out his hand again. 

“You won’t talk to me but you want to hold my hand?” Heckyl scoffed unhappily. 

Chase frowned and felt the hurt creep inside his heart. He sighed and snapped his fingers to capture Heckyl’s attention. He made a gesture that requested Heckyl calm down and wait and then drew an invisible line across his throat and shrugged. He hoped the little charade translated. 

Heckyl frowned and watched each movement Chase made with narrowed eyes. 

With a small, timid smile Chase reached out again for Heckyl’s hand. This time Heckyl allowed the touch. 

“You can’t talk.” Heckyl voiced for Chase. With a grim smile, Chase nodded. “You can’t – why? Is this some human illness?” He questioned, but frowned deeply when he realized that Chase wouldn’t be able to answer him. “You can’t talk.” The alien repeated in a shattered voice. “This is unacceptable. I will – I gave – those pesky friends of yours are absolutely worthless. They were supposed to prevent this. I left you with them so you would be safe!” 

Heckyl pulled away as he raged and Chase sighed silently as he watched Heckyl begin to pace. Chase frowned a little and decided to put an end to it. He stepped up in front of Heckyl and placed his hands on both sides of the man’s face and crushed their lips together, effectively cutting off Heckyl’s creative curses aimed towards his friends. 

A moan broke from Heckyl’s throat and he returned the kiss fiercely, temporarily forgetting his anger. He melted against Chase and Chase felt a warmth bloom inside of him that he had been afraid had frozen forever. For once Chase didn’t have to worry about opening his stupid mouth and ruining everything. 

Heckyl pushed him up against a conveniently placed pickup truck. The vehicle rocked with the force, but Chase didn’t mind, he’d been dreaming about kissing Heckyl again. Sure in his dreams it had happened a little more, uh, romantically, but he’d take what he could get. 

“Wait,” Heckyl breathed and pulled back slightly. 

Chase opened his eyes and looked back into Heckyl’s blue gaze. 

“Is this what you want?” Heckyl asked. “I’m dangerous, I – I’m the reason this happened to you. All the bad things you’ve been through, at least recently, have been because of me.” 

Chase swallowed thickly as he considered how to respond. He didn’t know much, but he did know that he didn’t blame Heckyl. In his own way Heckyl had been trying to protect Chase and Chase knew that. He smiled back at the alien, his alien and reinitiated the kiss, this time gentler in an attempt to be reassuring. 

Heckyl pulled back again and Chase locked their gazes again. “I think I love you, you know?” The alien confessed. “I didn’t want to. This isn’t safe. Snide will kill you.” 

Chase shook his head and gave another silent sigh. 

“You can’t die on me, okay?” Heckyl begged and pulled Chase into a surprisingly tender hug. Chase couldn’t remember the last time he’d been held like Heckyl was holding him. It was more than nice. It was blissful.

The sex that followed wasn’t like the sex they had before. It wasn’t frantic or even the slightest bit awkward. It was slow and sexy and sweet. 

Afterwards they laid together, intertwined in the bed of the stranger’s pickup truck. On some level Chase knew that they needed to worry about being rescued. On some level Chase was worried about his friends. Were they okay? Were they alive? 

Mostly Chase wanted to live in a moment of pure happiness that he knew wasn’t going to last. At least not until Snide was taken care of. 

“I should go.” Heckyl said after a long, long while. Chase held Heckyl a little tighter. He didn’t want to let go. Not yet. It was too soon. “It’s for the best.” Heckyl whispered. “Snide could take over, it’s been a while since he – and well, I can’t fight him forever, Chase.” 

Chase nodded reluctantly and stole another tender kiss. 

“Don’t try to convince me to stay,” Heckyl chuckled and snapped his fingers, their clothes he magic-ed away reappeared. Chase pouted, but gave another silent sigh and scouted to the edge of the truck’s bed. 

“We’ll see one another again.” Heckyl promised. “Soon.” 

Chase nodded again and closed his eyes. When he opened them Heckyl was gone and his heart fell a little in his chest. 

Soon couldn’t arrive soon enough.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a terrible author. I apologize.

“So, you’re fine.” Kendall said as she looked at the scrape on Chase’s arm for the fourth time. She didn’t believe him, even though she had checked him head to toe several times already and found nothing wrong. 

Again Chase nodded and offered a bright, reassuring smile. 

Kendall glared back. “You were trapped for hours.” 

With a shrug Chase glanced around the lab with disinterest. His friends had hovered for a bit, but Kendall had sent them away when it was clear Chase wasn’t in any sort of danger. At least no more danger than usual. 

“You need to stop doing that.” Kendall vented and slapped a bandage over the scraped skin. “You need to stop disappearing on me.” 

Chase grabbed the data pad and typed the words he couldn’t say and handed it over to his best friend. 

Kendall’s glare softened. “You can’t promise that.” She accused and set the pad down. “You can’t say that you’ll always come back, it doesn’t work that way. One day you might vanish and never return. That’s war.” 

War. Chase huffed mutely. Although it was an accurate description of what they were in, it still felt wrong. What was the saying? All’s fair in love and war. Chase was in both. In love and in war. 

It sucked. 

He picked up the data pad again and typed his response. 

“I know you’ll try.” Kendall sighed as she read Chase’s words. “I know, but I also know you’d do pretty much anything to save Heckyl. Riley and I think we have an idea of how to separate them, but it’s going to take some time.” 

Chase nodded. He was just glad there was hope. 

Hope. 

“I see that smile.” Kendall smirked a little. “You know, Shelby swears up and down that Heckyl fell into that rubble pit with you.” 

Chase nodded, but didn’t offer any explanations. The team, although well meaning, didn’t need to know every detail about his sex life. They already had made their opinions about him and he didn’t really want to bring it up again. 

“I didn’t – Chase, they don’t think poorly of you because of this.” Kendall tried to smooth over the hurt. “They accept that Heckyl isn’t the bad guy we thought he was. Or, well, he is, but he isn’t to you.” 

Chase swallowed thickly. He knew that Heckyl had plotted against them. He was aware that Heckyl had tried to kill them, but for whatever reason that didn’t matter to him. It was in the past. He’d seen a different side of Heckyl and he wished he could show it to the others. 

He just hoped they would help Heckyl once the alien was freed. 

“Alright, I guess I can’t hold you here against your will.” Kendall announced after a few moments of silence. “Chase, have you thought about sign language?” 

Chase raised an eyebrow at her and motioned to take the data pad back. She handed it over and he typed his response. 

Kendall shook her head. “No, it wouldn’t be a waste of time, not if we all took a class together. We need to be able to talk with you in a more freeing way.” 

With a silent sigh Chase stood from the exam table and shook his head firmly. He knew he was being slightly childish, but he figured as long as he wasn’t trying to ‘fix’ his disability he could still pretend it wasn’t permanent. 

Chase was happily in denial. 

“Alright.” Kendall said and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Okay, Chase.” 

Good old Kendall, Chase thought with a small smile. He was glad she wasn’t pushing him to accept things he wasn’t ready to accept. 

“When do you think that you’ll be up to returning to work?” Kendall asked conversationally. “I hate to ask, but my schedule is all messed up without you on rotation.” 

Chase grinned at that and gave her a thumbs up sign. Kendall grinned and patted his shoulder again before she turned back to her workstation. 

Cleared, Chase stood and grabbed his headphones and slipped them over his ears. He waved goodbye to Kendall who smiled back. 

__

Kendall had confiscated his skateboard shortly after she caught him riding before she had told him he could. It was a little petty, but Chase understood she was worried. Still, it meant that Chase was reduced to walking everywhere. 

“Fancy meeting you here.” Heckyl said as he appeared on the bench next to Chase. 

Chase grinned at him. They’d been meeting secretly every day since the parking garage incident. Heckyl found Chase and they sat together. Heckyl would tell him stories of the galaxy beyond Earth. Good stories of his past. Sometimes they would sit in silence or make out, but whatever they were doing Chase loved it. 

Maybe this was dating. Chase had never gone on more than one date, so it was hard to tell. 

Whatever it was, it was awesome. 

Chase stole a kiss and Heckyl hummed happily in response against his lips. 

“You’re in a good mood.” Heckyl commented as they pulled away. Chase smiled. He wished he could talk. He wished he could tell Heckyl that being with Heckyl made him happy. 

It was hard to explain, to express without a voice. 

They found out early on that Heckyl’s people, although English speaking, wrote in a different way. Standard script was lost on Heckyl. Chase couldn’t even write him letters expressing his love. 

It was frustrating, but that was life. At least they were alive and at least they could spend these few hours together. When they could steal them away from the day. 

Chase’s smile must have faded ever so slightly because Heckyl frowned in response. “What’s wrong?” He asked, his hand came up and cupped Chase’s cheek gently. 

Chase looked down and took a breath. He couldn’t form the words. Silence. He was silent. He could never be anything other than silent. He reached out and took Heckyl’s hand and rested his head against Heckyl’s chest. 

“I know it’s hard.” Heckyl sighed. “Maybe we can find a way to reverse this. Maybe there’s a way for you to regain your voice.” 

The hope was too much to hold onto. Chase didn’t dare dream that it would work out. He couldn’t. It was like his discussion days earlier with Kendall. If he gave in and agreed to learn how to communicate without his voice it was like giving up. 

Gently Heckyl pulled Chase closer. 

“Heckyl.” 

Chase jumped and turned and saw Riley watching them. 

“Green Ranger.” Heckyl responded coolly, his grip on Chase’s shoulder tightened before he let go. Chase looked at Heckyl and then Riley and tensed. “I suppose you’re here to fight.” The alien said coolly.

Riley exhaled loudly and shook his head. “Nope.” He said, surprising both Chase and Heckyl. “No, that’s not why I’m here. I’m here, uh, to let you know that we’re coming up with a way to help you.” 

Heckyl froze at that and moved further from Chase, much to Chase’s discomfort. 

“What are you talking about?” Heckyl asked even as his expression shifted to one of understanding. “No, you can’t separate us.” Heckyl said and stood. “That would be bad – no, a terrible idea. There would be no holding him back.” 

“We understand the risks.” Riley explained firmly. “Look, I know you’ve been doing your best to contain Snide, but it’s not fair to you.” 

“He’ll destroy this entire planet.” Heckyl hissed and stood. 

“He won’t have a chance.” Riley insisted. “He leeches off of your power. Without you he’ll be weaker.” 

“You don’t know that for sure.” Heckyl shook his head. “You don’t know anything.” 

“I know that Chase trusts you.” Riley hissed. “I know that he would sacrifice everything for you, which means that you’re worth saving.” 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Heckyl growled back. Chase stood and tried to make calming gestures, but was easily ignored by the two men. “He can not be unleashed.” 

“You said it yourself,” Riley pointed a finger at Heckyl’s chest. “The longer he’s alive and tied to you to more he’s going to want to break your spirit. You’ve been fighting him for a long time. You hold him down, you hold him back. You’ve been smart. I can see that. You refused to get attached anyone or anything that could make you weak, but then Chase happened. Chase with his charm and his smiles and, well, now you’re attached and you want to protect him. You have something to fight for, something to love. If he takes Chase away while you’re locked up inside his mind are you going to want to fight anymore? What kind of devastation will he cause then?” 

Heckyl froze. 

Chase stared at Riley. 

“You don’t know anything.” Heckyl shouted and vanished as quickly as he came. 

Chase jumped to reach out for Heckyl, to steal away with the alien, but it was too late. Heckyl was already gone. 

“Chase.” Riley said after a moment. Chase shrunk away from Riley’s outstretched arm, but he couldn’t ignore the look of hurt that crossed his friend’s face. He closed his eyes and turned to face Riley and mouthed the words he couldn’t say. 

“I know you were just trying to help.” His lips moved, but no sound formed. “But you can’t scare him away. He’s going to realize I’m not worth it.” 

“Chase, Chase I don’t understand you.” Riley pleaded. 

Chase couldn’t stop. He’d been silent for too long and he needed to say things, even if no one could hear him. “I love him, Riley.” Chase stopped and turned to his friend and broke down. “I love him and he keeps running away. Please don’t scare him away, Riles, please.” 

“Chase.” Riley whispered and grabbed ahold of the other man, pulling him into a tight hug. “We’re going to save him. I’m sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have pushed, but I – I didn’t know he was going to react that way. I’m so sorry. It’s going to be okay.”

Chase wanted to believe everything would be okay, but he was starting to feel like that goal was impossible.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates? WHA??? I may be back people....maybe...hopefully...
> 
> hi.

It was easier to deal with the ‘no talking’ thing after the latest incident. Chase didn’t even try anymore. He didn’t look back into his friends’ eyes or try to communicate what he was feeling. He was pretty sure they knew how he felt anyway. Sad. Destroyed. Depressed. Shattered. Completely and utterly alone.

Heckyl hadn’t come back to him since Riley inadvertently chased him off. Even if Chase could sit with Heckyl again it would be impossible for Chase to try and convince him that separating him from Snide was the best option. 

It was a well-documented fact that Heckyl was stubborn. 

Chase could be stubborn too. 

__

“And you’re sure this will keep me in control?” 

“Yessss.” The snake monster hissed. “He will not be able to reclaim control over your sssshared body.” 

“Will it damage me?” 

“No.” The monster answered confidently. “But it may damage him.” 

“That isn’t my concern.” Snide said with a wicked smile and glowing eyes. “Is there anything else I should know?” 

The monster tipped its head a little and flickered its long forked tongue. “If he diesss you will be weakened. Remember hissss sssstrength is your sssstrength. You are two halvesssss of the sssssame coin.” 

“Don’t underestimate my power.” Snide growled back. He clasped his clawed hand around the small glass bottle and left the cell with a huff of over-confidence. What did the snake know anyway? 

__

Snide knew that he needed to act quickly if he wanted to subdue Heckyl. Heckyl had the annoying ability to hold control for far longer than Snide. Snide was tired of it. He was tired of being held back. 

Now was his moment to seize full control. 

No regrets. No take backs. No hesitation. Snide uncapped the glass bottle and downed the dark contents. 

The world around him spun and turned fuzzy until all that surrounded Snide was darkness. He opened his eyes, unaware that he had closed them and found himself face to face with his other self. 

Heckyl was scowling. 

“What did you do?” 

Snide grinned. This was going just as the snake promised. 

“I’m taking control of our body.” Snide announced and snapped his metallic fingers. Heckyl’s eyes widened as glowing bands appeared and wrapped around his wrists and ankles. 

“Do you really think whatever plan you’ve cooked up is going to work?” Heckyl sneered and struggled against the bonds that held him in place. “You’re an idiot. You couldn’t come up with a decent plan if it fell into your lap. I’m the brains of this operation, or have you forgotten?” 

“Ah, the insults.” Snide chuckled darkly. “You use them like a shield of thorns. Pathetic. I assure you, you’ve already lost this fight.” 

“You can’t destroy me.” Heckyl hissed. “You are nothing without my power!” 

“Oh, I’m not going to destroy you.” Snide grinned. “I’m going to devour your power and become stronger than you could ever imagine. You’ll watch it all. You’ll be trapped and silent behind my eyes as I kill that whelp you allowed to soften your heart.” 

“If you so much as touch him,” Heckyl threatened. 

“I’ll do more than touch him.” Snide interrupted and snapped his fingers again. At the sharp sound Heckyl began to scream and his body began to turn to dust. 

__

The next battle was led by Snide. It had been a while since Snide had made an appearance, so it was a bit of a shock. Heckyl’s plans were always a bit of a surprise. Never direct. Snide was less creative. He was a hard hitter. 

The brawn. 

Chase jumped into the fray with his friends and took on the Vivix with a need to vent out some frustration. When the first seaweed-head was reduced to dust Chase found himself hesitating as the wind blew the cloud of Vivix-dust away. What if that was the Vivix who had delivered his food back on the ship? 

It wasn’t like they had been friends. Vivix weren’t great conversationalists…although neither was Chase. Not anymore, anyway. 

“Chase!” Tyler appeared at his side and blocked an attack that might have been devastating otherwise. “Are you alright?” 

Shaken out of his dark thoughts, Chase nodded and refocused on the fight around him. He looked to Snide and felt angry that the creature was currently in control of his sort-of boyfriend. 

It wasn’t fair. 

None of it was fair. 

Chase nodded again and charged after the alien who had caused him so much pain. Snide cackled and blocked Chase’s attack. 

“I can’t say that I’m surprised that you survived our little encounter.” Snide said with another cruel laugh as they stood apart from the others and stare one another down. “You and your friends are like space lizards. Hard to eradicate.” 

I’ll take that as a compliment, Chase thought and hesitated. A plan formed in his head – Chase knew it was a bad one, but most of his plans were. He de-morphed. Slowly he held out his hands in a non-threatening gesture. Chase hoped that if Heckyl were watching the sight of him defenseless against Snide would allow Heckyl a surge of power and the ability to reclaim control. 

Snide laughed and tipped his metal head to the side. “How sweet. Unfortunately for you, Heckyl won’t be coming out to play. Ever.” 

Chase narrowed his eyes and wondered what that meant.

“I’ve come up with a solution to our shared body experience.” Snide said with a crooked grin. It looked odd on his metallic face. 

“What solution?” Chase mouthed with tense silence. 

“I am in control now.” Snide straightened. “And he’s going to watch helplessly as I squeeze the life from your body.” Snide shot forward and Chase dodged back. He heard his teammates shouting at him, but Chase ignored it in favor of concentrating on not dying. 

“Hold still and accept your fate!” Snide growled after a few moments of him trying to snag Chase and Chase staying just out of reach. 

Chase smirked and gripped his energem in his hand. He felt the power surge through his body, but he hesitated. If he hurt Snide, would he also be hurting Heckyl? Chase couldn’t stand the thought. 

It was that moment of hesitation that got him into trouble. 

“Chase!” Tyler shouted as Snide managed to wrap his metal hand around Chase’s throat. 

“You should hear him screaming inside my head.” Snide laughed as he drew Chase up closer so that their noses were touching. “This is the loudest he’s been since I locked him away. You’re death will silence him forever.” 

“Let him go!” Shelby shouted. 

Snide hissed and something in his eyes seemed to change. Chase stared back and waited for his life to end, but it didn’t. 

With a roar Snide released Chase and vanished. 

Chase dropped to his knees and tried desperately to suck in a full breath of air. Hands were on his back and Chase, unseeing, flinched away from the unexpected touch. 

“Whoa, it’s me.” Riley said and held up his hands palms out to show he wasn’t a threat. 

Chase wheezed and closed his eyes with a weak nod. 

“Why did he let you go?” Riley wondered as he knelt in front of Chase. “Not that I’m complaining, of course.” 

“Maybe Heckyl stopped him,” Shelby suggested as she knelt next to Chase and rubbed his back gently as he slowly caught his breath. 

Shelby had a point. Chase pressed his hand against his chest and took a deep breath. Had Heckyl somehow managed to reach out and take control of Snide? Maybe Snide didn’t have Heckyl as caged as he thought. 

With a frown Chase pushed his way up to his feet and stood with the support of his friends. 

They needed to figure this out. 

They needed to separate Heckyl and Snide sooner rather than later. 

__

Heckyl felt exhausted. He remembered watching helplessly as Snide grabbed Chase’s slender throat and he remembered screaming, begging for his other half not to kill his mate. 

Snide wasn’t going to stop. Snide would have snapped Chase’s neck, but Heckyl had channeled all of his power and stopped him. 

Heckyl had stopped him. 

Now Heckyl felt like he was bleeding out. 

“You fool.” Snide said as he appeared in the dark existence of their shared mind. “You would destroy yourself to save him?” 

“It would be worth it.” Heckyl whispered and closed his eyes. He was still bound and useless. Too weak to defend himself. In many ways he was ready for Snide to kill him and end the pain. Of course, if Heckyl were destroyed, who would be left to watch over Chase? The human wasn’t going to look after himself, Heckyl knew that much. What would Chase do if Heckyl were to disappear forever?

“I can’t allow you to risk yourself like that again.” Snide hissed. 

Heckyl managed a crooked smile at that. “Well, you could set me free.” 

“Not likely.” Snide said and paced before Heckyl’s immobile form.

“Then don’t go after him again.” Heckyl snarled. 

“Also,” Snide looked directly at Heckyl. “Not likely.” 

“You, my curse, are a bad seed.” Heckyl said with narrowed eyes. 

“I get to decide when you die.” Snide shouted and vanished. 

“Not likely.” Heckyl muttered to the darkness.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a roll! Yay!

“This is good.” Riley breathed and looked over their shared genius. Shelby and Kendall grinned in response. “This is going to work.” 

“The only question now is how do we lure Snide into the center of our trap?” Kendall sighed and leaned back in her chair. The trio frowned in silent contemplation as the stared at their invention. 

It didn’t seem all that impossible of a question to Chase. In fact, there was a rather obvious solution. Chase held up his hand and the group looked over at him with mixed variations of understanding. 

“No,” Kendall said sharply. “You are not putting yourself in more danger.” 

“Yes.” Chase lipped mutely. 

“No.” Shelby echoed Kendall and stood up to pace. “We didn’t go through all of this trouble to lose you.” 

Chase gave them a, ‘it’s not like I’m not going to die’ look, but it didn’t seem to calm any of their frayed nerves. 

“He wants to do it.” Riley spoke up for Chase. All eyes turned to the green ranger. Chase’s lips parted in surprise. Out of all of his friends, Riley was the least likely to stand on his side of just about any argument. 

Not that Chase was complaining. Their eyes met and Chase nodded his thanks.

“He’s the only one who can do it.” Riley added gravely. 

“There has to be another way.” Kendall pleaded, but she was smart. Chase could tell that she knew that there wasn’t another option. Chase was the best bet for baiting Snide. There was no one else currently on the planet that Snide wanted to kill more. 

“Okay.” Kendall whispered and looked directly into Chase’s eyes. “Okay, you’ll be bait. Just don’t expect me to like it.” 

Chase smiled a bright smile and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek to show his gratitude. Kendall returned the sentiment with a tight hug and Chase closed his eyes and melted into the embrace. He hoped that this wouldn’t be the last time he got to hug his best friend, but he wasn’t going to stop until Heckyl was free, even if that meant he didn’t survive. 

No one deserved to be held captive. 

__

The plan was in place. Each of the remaining rangers were armed with ray guns specially calibrated to split Heckyl and Snide apart. Chase didn’t particularly understand the science behind it all, but he didn’t have to. The problem was the other rangers had to position themselves far enough away that they wouldn’t be much help to Chase once Snide showed up. 

Chase took a calming breath as he prepared himself and held onto his energem like a lifeline. 

“I assume you are waiting for me.” Snide said, appearing behind Chase. 

Chase whirled around and eyed Snide silently. He hadn’t morphed yet. Kendall thought it might be a bad idea to be in ranger mode during the distraction. The technology they were using was going to rip Snide and Heckyl apart. There was the off chance that Chase might also be ripped apart from the power of the black energem if he was caught in the beams of science. 

It wasn’t something Chase was willing to risk – not unless he absolutely had to. 

Chase nodded slowly and considered something to do or ‘say’ that would distract Snide a little longer. He knew that the devices needed time to warm up and lock onto Snide and all the rangers had to fire their weapons at the same time. 

The whole thing seemed a little impossible. 

“Let me guess what your plan is.” Snide mocked as he took a step forward, towering over Chase’s vulnerable form. “You wanted to meet with me alone – maybe you hoped to plead with me to release Heckyl.” Snide let out a laugh that could freeze lava. “Love is such a terrible affliction – allow me to relieve you of it.” 

Chase barely had time to react before Snide flew at him. 

Beams of light struck Snide from all sides, freezing the metal beast in place before he could fully unleash his attack on Chase. 

The alien let out a roar. The thundering sound pierced through Chase’s ears causing him to flinch back and clasp his hands protectively on the sides of his head. His eyes remained fixed on Snide as his body started to blur and split in different directions. It was horrifying to watch. 

The creature was in obvious agony and suddenly Chase spotted Heckyl’s hand reaching out from the streams of light. Desperately Chase let go of his ears and reached forward to grasp the hand in his own unfailing grip. A rush of wind swirled between Chase and Heckyl, as if trying to pull them apart. 

Determined Chase held on and pulled until the pressure of the wind became too strong. It sent him falling backwards. The impact of ground against his back drove the air from his lungs as a heavy object landed on top of him. 

Wheezing silently Chase looked at the object and his heart soared – it was Heckyl. Beaten, bloody, but alive and free. Chase clung to the unconscious alien, but knew that they were both at a terrible disadvantage. He struggled to get to his knees as the wind vanished and Snide stood up straight only a short distance away. 

The pure rage that filled the man’s metallic face was disturbing on a level that Chase couldn’t even describe. 

Silently Chase willed himself to morph into the black ranger as he stood and prepared himself to defend Heckyl who hadn’t regained consciousness. 

There were no words spoken – not that Chase could have said anything anyway. Snide bolted forward and Chase did the same. 

Chase’s blasts did little to slow Snide down and his weapon sparked when Snide’s sword came down onto it. Chase’s knee buckled under the force, but he was able to push Snide away and regain his footing before the next brutal attack. 

Off in the distance he heard his friend’s calling out to him. They were on their way. Soon the battle wouldn’t feel so deadly – or so Chase hoped. Once his friends were at his side they would overpower Snide and the war – hopefully – would be over. 

He and Snide were so locked in on one another that they missed the moment that Heckyl regained consciousness. 

“Duck.” Heckyl’s voice rang out and Chase didn’t need to be told twice. He hit the deck just as a violent bolt of blue electricity shot out and engulfed Snide. 

Chase looked up just as the blue bolt stopped and saw Snide on his knees. 

“Do you really think you can defeat me?” Snide shouted, but failed to regain his footing. 

“I was always going to win.” Heckyl announced and zapped Snide again until all that was left as a smoldering crater. 

Chase stood once the shock had mostly faded. He turned to Heckyl. The alien was pale and visibly shook from fatigue and pain. Chase took a step closer and finally Heckyl seemed to lose the strength he was desperately clinging to. As the alien crumpled Chase rushed to catch him only to end up on his knees in the dust beside the fallen alien. 

Blue eyes blinked up at Chase. “We did it.” Heckyl whispered so faintly Chase wasn’t quite sure if he had heard correctly. 

Chase grinned a blindingly bright smile and kissed Heckyl square on the lips. 

Snide was gone. 

They had won. 

__

The feeling of joy that came with such a victory was short lived, at least for Chase and Heckyl. Well, Chase, Heckyl seemed too out of it to feel all the worry and concern that Chase was consumed with. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Shelby asked as she hovered over Kendall’s shoulder. 

Chase turned his pleading eyes to Kendall to see her reaction to the question. The woman he considered one of his closest friends looked disheartened. She met Chase’s worried eyes and closed her own. 

Heckyl was laid out on the cot in the lab that Chase had favored during his recovery. The alien was pale to the point of looking like a corpse. Not that Heckyl was ever a very tan guy, but now his skin had a bluish almost grey hue. It definitely didn’t look healthy. 

“I – I’m not sure.” Kendall admitted. “He must have used a lot of energy to – to do what he did.” 

“Snide gone.” Koda offered. “Heckyl a hero.” 

Chase nodded. If it weren’t for Heckyl’s impeccable timing not only would the world be in terrible danger, but there was a good chance that Chase would have been killed. Heckyl was a hero. 

Shortly after Snide had been destroyed Heckyl closed his eyes and had not woken up since. Chase felt sick with worry – but the nausea might have also been because of the slight concussion he had endured during the fight with Snide. Apparently when he had pulled Heckyl free he had also hit his head pretty solidly against the ground. He hadn’t realized he was bleeding from a gash on the back of his head until Kendall started to fuss. 

“How can we help him?” Tyler asked, ever the leader trying to fix things. 

“I’m not sure we can.” Kendall admitted. 

There was a buzzing noise that drew Kendall closer to her computers. “There’s monster activity in the city – I thought once Snide was gone,” Kendall’s sentence trailed off, but the group understood what she was thinking. With Snide gone they had all thought the war would be over, but they had been wrong. 

“Take out one bad guy and another shows up in its place.” Riley sighed. “It’s what happened when we defeated Sledge. I guess we should have seen this coming. Until we have all of the energems and Keeper can – do whatever Keeper wants with them, this is going to keep happening.” 

“We’ve got a job to do.” Ivan nodded and stood. 

Tyler hesitated and glanced at Chase. “You don’t have to come, we can handle this if you aren’t up to a fight.” 

Chase looked at Heckyl and considered his options. He could sit around feeling useless by Heckyl’s side or he could go and protect his world from another disaster. It might have made him the worst boyfriend ever, but Chase was pretty sure Heckyl would forgive him. 

If Heckyl ever woke up.

Chase stood and joined his teammates as they headed off to face another battle. 

__

Heckyl drifted in the dark. His body was intact, but his soul was shattered. He felt the void inside of him and wondered how he was still alive. Or more importantly, why. Without power he was useless. Used up. Pathetic. 

Perhaps Snide had been right. 

Maybe without Snide Heckyl was nothing but a two-bit psychopath.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOM! I'm on a roll ya'all ^^

“Well, on the bright side at least they don’t seem to be overly organized.” Shelby offered as the team regrouped after another day of battling in the city. 

It had been close to a month since Snide had been destroyed and the bad guys were steadily causing trouble, if only to keep the power rangers from searching for the remaining energems. 

Chase spent most of his free time, what little he had, sitting by Heckyl’s side. 

Although the alien looked slightly more Heckyl-like, he had yet to wake up since he destroyed Snide. The alien seemed to be in a state of suspended animation – or at least that’s what Kendall and Riley seemed to think. 

For a long time they thought Heckyl was somehow healing himself, but after waiting so long Chase was beginning to think that Heckyl was in some sort of alien-coma and wouldn’t ever open his eyes again. 

It was hard to remain optimistic. 

Chase wished that he could talk. He wished he could hold Heckyl’s cold, lifeless hand and try and convince the alien to snap out of whatever trance he had fallen into and come back to life. Come back to him. 

Maybe it was selfish. 

“You need me to cover your shift?” Riley asked softly. Chase glanced up and realized they were the only ones left in the lab. He blinked and wondered where the others had gone and how long he’d been sitting there lost in thought. 

“For what its worth, I don’t think he’d want you to waste away.” Riley said as kindly as someone could given the situation. “Why don’t you go to the skate park? You could probably use some fresh air or at least a change of scenery.” 

Chase shook his head stubbornly, but stood and grabbed the tablet Kendall had left within his reach. He typed up a response, short and sweet and handed it over to Riley before he headed up to clock in. Chase appreciated Riley’s concern, but the last thing he wanted to do was feel free when Heckyl was locked away, stuck in his head. 

__

Riley glanced down at the tablet as Chase left the lab and sighed as he read the message. “I’ll go to work.” He muttered as he read it out loud. “Well, at least he’ll get a change of scenery.” Riley rolled his eyes and set the device aside. “Sort of.” 

The green ranger looked at Heckyl and took the chair Chase had been sitting in. “I don’t know if you can hear me or if you are so far gone that – well, Chase needs you to come back. If you’re going to break his heart, don’t do it like this. He fought so hard to save you – wake up, Heckyl. Don’t let it end like this.” 

There was no reaction, not that Riley really thought there would be. Heckyl was dead to the world and nothing they or Chase did seemed to change that. It was hard seeing Chase so withdrawn. The black ranger had already been struggling to live life voiceless, but without Heckyl to fight for, Riley feared Chase would fade away. 

With an unhappy sigh Riley stood and left Heckyl’s unresponsive form alone in the lab. 

__

“Prince Phillip.” Tyler greeted. “This is unexpected.” 

“I came as soon as – well, let me explain.” Phillip nodded and held out a stone that looked strikingly like an energem. “My scientists have been experimenting with a crystal they found in an ancient meteor they uncovered.” 

Keeper appeared out of no where and frowned at the prince. “These are not forces that you should play with.” The alien scolded. 

Chase raised an eyebrow as he listened to the conversation from across the room. He looked at the greyish-blue crystal in prince Phillip’s hand and thought briefly about how it looked like the same color Heckyl’s eyes were. 

Or, had been. 

Chase drooped a little at the dark thought and glanced back at the alien behind him. Heckyl was still frozen in time and there was nothing they could do to draw him out of it. 

“This could help us all in our fight against the monsters.” Phillip was arguing. 

“It wasn’t your place to create a new energem.” Keeper said and raised his voice. Chase’s eyes widened as he realized that Keeper was angry. 

“If Phillip was able to create a new energem, is it possible that the enemy could figure out how to do it?” Tyler asked worriedly. 

“It doesn’t seem likely.” Kendall commented as she took the crystal from Phillip’s hand and examined it. “They haven’t been organized and I doubt they are smart enough to figure out this kind of science on a whim. What type of dinosaur did you combine the power with?” 

Phillip grinned. “Well, with the meteor fragment we also uncovered some bones of a Dracorex.” 

“Really?” Shelby’s eyes went full-fledged geek. “Those are pretty rare.” 

“Okay, so we have a new weapon to use to defend Earth,” Ivan frowned and plucked the new energem out of Kendall’s fingers and examined it closer. “I do not see what the problem is.” 

“The problem is that it was reckless.” Kendall grumbled, but let the knight examine the crystal. 

“You must destroy your research immediately.” Keeper insisted. 

Chase stood and wandered over to the group. He took the stone from Ivan’s hand and blinked a bit as he thought he might have seen an inner glow. 

“Chase?” Riley asked as Chase moved the energem around, closer to each of them and then back – no way! 

Eyes wide Chase moved quickly over to Heckyl. 

“Chase, what are you doing?” Shelby squeaked as Chase eyed the sparkling gem in his hand. He looked at Heckyl’s still slumbering form and turned to his friends. They all saw it. 

“It chose him?” Kendall blinked. “That seems, improbable.” 

“But not impossible.” Riley breathed. “Maybe – ”

“It’s worth a shot.” Tyler spoke up. “If Heckyl’s heart truly has changed, I’d be happy to fight along side him, instead of against him.” 

“Agreed.” The others responded. 

Chase looked at Keeper who took in a deep, unsettled breath. “I cannot stop the stone from choosing who it wishes to bond with. I feel in my heart that Heckyl’s intentions have changed. Chase, unite them and let fate decide.” 

A shrill of hope soared through Chase. He grinned. It felt strange to smile after so long. For a moment, only for a split second he considered what he would feel if his plan didn’t work. What if the bond changed nothing and Heckyl never woke up? The crushing fear wasn’t enough to keep Chase from the determination. 

Before he could change his mind or his friends could change their minds he slipped the energem into Heckyl’s lax fingers. 

The bond was instant as the blue electricity flooded through Heckyl’s body. 

Chase held his breath and then grabbed Heckyl’s hand and held it in his own.   
“Is it working?” Someone asked. Chase was too focused on Heckyl’s face to really pay attention to anyone else around him. 

__

Heckyl was comfortable in the darkness. It was like a warm blanket that held him tight. He was content to stay exactly where he was – so it was mildly annoying when a sudden blue light lit up his world and pulled him from the security he’d been hiding in. 

It wasn’t until the power consumed him that he started to pay attention. 

Suddenly he was no longer alone in the dark. He turned and came face to face with a creature with horns that looked like a cross between a dragon and a dinosaur. 

“I suppose this is the part where I get eaten.” Heckyl quipped unhappily. He guessed this was what a nightmare was. He hadn’t ever really experienced a night terror that didn’t involve Snide, so this was different. 

The creature roared. 

“My apologies for not quaking with fear. You, my pointy friend, are not the scariest thing I’ve met.” Heckyl said and stood up straighter. 

The beast seemed to relax at the statement and lowered its head down to Heckyl’s level. Temptation was too great, Heckyl reached out and ran his hand over the beast’s bumpy head. 

The next thing Heckyl knew was that he was blinking up at an unfamiliar ceiling. 

“It worked!” Someone said, much too loudly. The original voice was joined by a horrendous tirade of headache inducing chatter. 

“Ugh, would you kindly shut up?” Heckyl groaned and turned away from the sound. 

“Yep, that’s Heckyl alright.” A mildly annoyed voice said, blessedly it was much quieter than the loud voices that had roared just before. 

A gentle hand held his and Heckyl turned his eyes from the stone ceiling to – Chase. His eyes were filled with unshed emotion and Heckyl’s breath caught. 

“Chase – ” Heckyl said. His throat ached, drier than the desert. “Chase,” 

Chase parted his lips, but no sound emerged. Heckyl’s heart twisted a little in disappointment. Unable to express his feelings in words, Chase leaned forward and caught Heckyl’s lips with his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter left ^^ Just need to read through it and make sure it makes sense, lol.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought about waiting and posting this tomorrow, but I figured you guys have waited long enough. 
> 
>  
> 
> And with this last post, I am finished...with this fic. Although I don't have any stories on my brain right now...hopefully I'll be back with something new and exciting soon!

Heckyl was adjusting surprisingly easily to life as a good guy. Being a power ranger was never a part of his plan. He was pretty sure it was never apart of anyone’s plan. The scary thing was he was good at being a, well, good guy. 

With him on the team it was easier to divide the group into two tasks. Protecting Earth from the string of monster-rejects that popped up to cause trouble, and a second group to hunt down the remaining energems. 

Things were going splendidly. Heckyl had moved into Chase’s apartment and they were settling happily into what the human’s were calling a ‘honeymoon’ phase. Heckyl wasn’t sure what it meant, but he liked honey – he liked to lick it off of Chase’s well-sculpted body. It wasn’t quite as good as cinnamon, but it still had it’s pleasures. 

Still, there was a sadness behind the smiles that Chase offered. A disconnected feeling that Chase was trying desperately to either ignore or hide. Possibly both. 

His lost voice. 

Heckyl remembered what Chase sounded like even though his lover could no long speak. He missed it. He remembered the conversations they had back when Chase had been his captive on his ship. 

The silence was killing Chase, even if the black ranger refused to acknowledge it. Heckyl didn’t want to see such a free spirit fade away. 

So he pulled his resources, which led him to a meeting with his old snake friend. 

“This metal has magical properties?” Heckyl said skeptically as he eyed the metal. 

“Yesssss.” Snake monster promised. “It sssshould fixxx what hasss been broken.” 

“We shall see.” Heckyl said with a frown. “There isn’t going to be any kind of unfortunate side effect this time, is there?” 

The snake monster chuckled. It was a truly unpleasant sound. “No, nothing else shall befall your mate.” 

Heckyl nodded. “Trust that if anything else should happen to him that isn’t planned for, I will find you and I will destroy you, power ranger or not.” 

“Of that, I have no doubt.” The monster said and disappeared into the shadows. 

With a short snort Heckyl left the abandoned building and returned to the museum. He tucked the piece of metal away and considered his options. He hadn’t created anything by hand in a long time…but he had a plan. 

__

Chase felt a great mixture of things. He felt happy that Heckyl was alive and healthy. He was thrilled that Heckyl had given up his life of destruction and seemed to thrive as a power ranger. Despite the somewhat sketchy start of how Heckyl’s energem came to light, it had worked out. 

Yet.

It was hard to ignore the lingering feeling of watching a movie. Like Chase was a camera lens, viewing his life like an outsider, unable to really interact with the world he was watching. 

There was a painful realization that no matter how good his life felt, he’d never truly be apart of it. Not like he wanted. Not like it had been before his voice had disappeared. 

Chase knew he shouldn’t complain – not that he really could. His life was good, damn it. 

Maybe it was time to take Kendall up on her suggestion. Maybe if he learned how to speak through sign language things wouldn’t feel so disconnected. 

It still felt like giving up.

“Something wrong?” 

The sound of Heckyl’s voice made Chase jump. He fixed a smile on his face before he turned to face his boyfriend. Boldly he shook his head. 

“Somehow I don’t believe you.” Heckyl sighed, but cupped Chase’s face in his hands and drew him into a quick kiss. “But I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make that smile of yours real.” 

Chase smirked at that, but he couldn’t think of a single thing that could pull him out of his current mood. He wished that he were better at pretending everything was okay. He wished he could believe that everything would be okay. 

Maybe he just needed a little more time. 

It was hard, so hard to try and pull himself out of his head when his head was the place his voice lived. 

“Perhaps I can do something to brighten your spirit.” Heckyl offered and nibbled playfully on Chase’s ear. Chase giggled silently and pulled back to look into his boyfriend’s eyes. Although he was as gloomy as he could get, he had to admit that his life was far better with Heckyl alive and well. 

“Ah, I see I have your attention.” Heckyl grinned wickedly. “I propose a date, tonight. I have something special planned.” 

Chase tipped his head to the side in confusing. They had ‘dates’ most every night, even if the date mostly consisted of them watching a movie on Chase’s coach and eating mostly burnt popcorn. 

“No, not our usual affairs, I promise.” Heckyl leaned in for a kiss. “Trust me.” 

Several months ago and Chase would have openly laughed at the very idea of trusting Heckyl, but now Chase couldn’t help but trust the alien. He trusted him with his life. 

Deciding guiltily that he was being completely unfair to Heckyl, Chase smiled and stole a quick kiss from Heckyl. It was his best attempt at telling his boyfriend non-verbally that he was looking forward to the mystery date. Heckyl grinned in response and handed Chase a piece of paper. “This is the address and time. Don’t be late – also, don’t be too early.” Heckyl winked and left the room and Chase behind without another word. 

It was definitely strange to have Heckyl not vanish into thin air any time he wanted to make an exit. It was also nice knowing that Chase could go after Heckyl if he wanted and or needed to. 

With a sigh Chase looked at the address written on the piece of paper. It was obviously Riley’s handwriting, given that Heckyl was still avoiding learning how to write in a human language. 

If Chase wanted to he figured he could hunt the green ranger down and demand to know what Heckyl had planned…

No. For the first time in a long time Chase was feeling spontaneous. He missed it. 

Perhaps the date would break the feeling of hopelessness Chase had allowed to fill his soul. 

Maybe Heckyl was just the remedy Chase needed to feel whole again. 

__

Chase was surprised how nervous he felt nervous that night. He glanced at his phone as he reached the boardwalk and smiled brightly when he spotted Heckyl. Chase had tagged along when Shelby had insisted on taking the alien shopping for more ‘normal’ clothes. 

Heckyl looked good in blue jeans and a graphic tee of some band that was thankfully not an awful boy band. 

“Is that coffee?” Chase lipped mutely as Heckyl turned and noticed him. 

“I thought you’d like this more than flowers.” Heckyl chuckled, undeterred by the fact that he probably had no idea what Chase had been trying to say. That was one of the great things about Heckyl. It was easy to pretend that everything was okay with him. 

Mostly okay. 

Stupid brain, Chase thought as he took a sip of the coffee. He gave Heckyl a slow kiss to show his thanks. 

“Don’t distract me.” Heckyl chuckled again. “We are on a time schedule.” 

Chase screwed up his face in question, but Heckyl only laughed again and linked their hands together as the started to walk down the beach towards a few well-known hiking trails. 

“This of course wouldn’t be a problem if I still had my previous abilities,” Heckyl said conversationally. “I don’t miss them as much as I thought I would.” 

Chase blinked and looked at Heckyl as they walked together. Heckyl had never talked about this particular subject before. Chase wished he could say something to help, but Heckyl smiled. 

“I miss the dramatic flare,” Heckyl admitted, “But there’s something nice about walking place to place. There is something strangely satisfying about slowing things down and enjoying the world. You know, instead of wanting to destroy it.” Heckyl winked and Chase laughed silently in return. Few people appreciated Heckyl’s dark humor. 

They walked down the beach and up one of the cliffs to a remote place that overlooked the ocean. The sun hung low in the sky as the water slowly swallowed it up. It was beautiful. 

“This is where my impatience is trying.” Heckyl said wistfully. “I was going to wait until the meteor shower started, but I – I can’t wait a second longer.” 

A meteor shower? Chase smiled, he hadn’t even realized that one was scheduled to take place that night. Not that he kept track of such events. He was glad that Heckyl somehow knew. 

“Chase,” Heckyl turned and faced Chase. “I guess I should, um, Riley suggested I get on one knee, but if it’s alright with you I’d rather stand.” 

Wait, on his knee?

“Chase,” Heckyl said and pulled out a ring made of a dark metal etched with intricate designs that were breathtaking to say the least. “I wish for nothing more than the pleasure of spending the remainder of our lives together.” 

Without waiting for a response Heckyl slipped the ring onto Chase’s finger. Chase stared at the little band and met Heckyl’s eyes with excitement and joy too great to be bottled up. 

“What do you say?” Heckyl asked in a very shy way. 

“Yes.” Chase said. The sound of his own voice filling up his ears had him startled. His fingers went to his throat as he wondered if he had finally snapped and gone insane. “Holy crap.” He whispered – he whispered. He had spoken! 

“It worked.” Heckyl grinned. 

Chase’s eyes widened. “What did you do?” He asked, still shocked and overwhelmed that he was able to speak again. 

“I paid a friend a visit.” Heckyl smiled. “I knew that he would be able to find something that might reverse your affliction. I made Kendall a ring as well – not as pretty as yours, mind you. She is also healed.” 

Chase crashed Heckyl’s lips with his own and laughed – truly laughed. 

“Even if I could never speak again,” Chase told Heckyl as the starts started to fall from the sky. “I would have found a way to show you how much I love you.” 

“You already have.” Heckyl said and kissed his fiancé.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support! You guys rock!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not going to lie, I like kudos...


End file.
